Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, paid a heartfelt homage to former US President Jimmy Carter, who passed away at the age of 100. He recalled how the late US leader met with former military dictator Gen. Sani Abacha and other esteemed international leaders to try to get him released from prison.
According to Obasanjo, despite the efforts, Abacha defied some of their understanding and remained unyielding.
On December 29 of last year, Carter, the first American president to live to 100 years of age, passed away.
Abacha, who passed away on June 8, 1998, had tried Obasanjo and found him guilty of trumped-up charges of coup planning. However, the original death sentence against Obasanjo was changed to life in prison.
Obasanjo’s widespread popularity and reputation led to other foreign leaders stepping in to support him.
Carter was something Obasanjo could never forget, emphasizing the efforts to gain his release. Aside from being one of his international friends who risked everything to rescue his life and secure his release from prison, he claimed that Carter’s actions both as president of the United States and after his departure were unprecedented for humanity and Africa in particular.
When the late American president was honored at a memorial service at the Chapel of Christ the Glorious King, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Obasanjo read the tribute, “Jimmy Carter: The Departure of a Titan.”
According to Obasanjo, Carter was a modest and unassuming man.
But why should I choose to honour an American president who lived and passed away over 5,000 kilometers abroad?” said the former president of Nigeria.
The reason for this is that he was a great international leader and a man of integrity whose morality proliferated throughout the entire world. He was a man of God, a lover of people, and a genuine friend of mine.
I resembled President Jimmy Carter in terms of my early life. Both he and I were born into farming families in Plains, Georgia, and Ibogun-Olaogun, a small hamlet in Ogun State.
“He was raised by a strict-minded mother and father who taught him the value of hard work, morality, discipline, humility, kindness, and compassion for the underprivileged.”
In the evenings of our existence, I fell prey to Sani Abacha, a militarist who aspired to rule Nigeria indefinitely, until the end of his days.
Obasanjo emphasized the previous president of the United States’ involvement in the effort to free him from prison.
“One of my foreign friends, President Carter, went above and beyond to save my life and to get me out of prison,” he stated.
President Carter convinced Abacha to move me from detention to house arrest on my property during his trip to Nigeria. However, that didn’t last long.
President Carter was the only non-African leader, as far as I know, to visit Abacha and specifically request my release, despite the fact that numerous other friends and leaders stepped in to help.
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Everyone who helped get me out of Abacha’s gulag has my eternal gratitude. Abacha made sure I wouldn’t be allowed to leave.
However, his successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, freed me within a week of his passing and let me to go throughout Africa and the rest of the world to express my gratitude to everyone who helped me get out.
When I visited President Jimmy Carter in the United States, he informed me of all the efforts he made with other leaders and Abacha’s unwavering determination to secure my release.
Carter said something that surprised me the most, though: “Please, see Ted Turner and thank him for his generosity.” He approached me, requesting that I secure the release of his friend, Obasanjo, from jail. If he wants to live here or somewhere else, I will look after him and his family.
“I felt moved and brought to tears.” Ted shared President Carter’s sentiment with me, so I went to him right away. His kindness was demonstrated, and I continued to return to President Carter whenever I had free time to thank him. I will miss a wonderful and genuine friend, but I believe we will cross paths again in paradise.
Rev. Israel Akanji, President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, highlighted some of the honors paid to Carter by international leaders in his sermon at the funeral service. He noted that the late president did not let his lowly origins define him until his death.
In Luke 10, Akanji referred to the Good Samaritan story in the Bible and said that Carter was a kind guy who adhered to the maxim “What is mine is yours if you need it.”
He urged leaders to have empathy rather than to show indifference to the well-being of others.
