Obasanjo Recounts Arrest By Abacha Regime, Claims He Rejected Political Asylum From US

 

 

Obasanjo Recounts Arrest By Abacha Regime, Claims He Rejected Political Asylum From US

Obasanjo also disclosed how he ventured into farming after retiring from the Nigerian Army at the age of 42, having attained the rank of a four-star general and served as Nigeria’s military Head of State.Nigerian news analysis

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has recounted how former military Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha, ordered his arrest and imprisonment, revealing that he rejected an offer of political asylum from the United States despite being warned that returning to Nigeria could lead to his arrest.

Obasanjo also disclosed how he ventured into farming after retiring from the Nigerian Army at the age of 42, having attained the rank of a four-star general and served as Nigeria’s military Head of State.

The former president made the revelations while recounting his experience under Abacha’s military regime in an interview with BBC News Pidgin on Tuesday.News website subscription

Obasanjo, who is now 89, explained that after handing over power to former President Shehu Shagari on October 1, 1979, he believed he had reached the highest point possible in his military career and decided to pursue farming.

According to him, although he had not initially planned to retire from the military at such a young age, attaining the rank of a four-star general and becoming Head of State left him with little else to aspire to within the Nigerian Army.Nigerian news analysis

“When I was leaving government as military head of state, there was — I was leaving too early. I didn’t join the army to retire at the age of 42.

“Now I had to retire at the age of 42. At the age of 42, I had become a four-star general. There’s nothing else I can do in the army. I’ve become the military head of state. That’s the highest political office I could rise.

“So what can I do? I decided I would go into farming. It really was going well, and it went well until I was arrested,” Obasanjo said.

He recounted that his farming activities were progressing successfully until Abacha allegedly decided that he should be eliminated, describing his arrest as part of a wider attempt by the military ruler to silence perceived threats to his government.

Obasanjo said he was travelling outside Nigeria when the American ambassador in the country contacted him and informed him that the United States government had offered him political asylum because it anticipated that he would be arrested if he returned home.

However, he said he rejected the offer, insisting that he had committed no offence that would warrant fleeing his country.

“Abacha had decided that I must be liquidated; otherwise he would not be able to have his way. I didn’t know that. I was travelling and coming back, and the American ambassador in Nigeria called me and said his country had offered me political asylum because they knew that I would be arrested if I returned home.

“This was difficult for me. I don’t — I haven’t done anything. What do they want to arrest me for? Um, I don’t want political asylum,” he stated.

The former president further narrated how his passport was seized upon his return to Nigeria, after which he proceeded to his farm.

According to him, when he arrived at the farm, one of his security details stopped him at the gate and informed him that security operatives had surrounded the premises.

He said that about 15 minutes later, a police officer dressed in civilian clothes arrived and informed him that an Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) wanted him to come and assist him.

Obasanjo said he rejected what he considered an inappropriate invitation, insisting that if the AIG genuinely needed his assistance, the senior police officer should personally come to meet him.

He added that he eventually used his personal vehicle to drive himself to the police station, where the AIG informed him that he had received instructions to arrest him.

“And when I arrived, they seized my passport; I made for my farm. At the gate of my farm was my security. He waved me down. He said that security had surrounded the farm.

“And within 15 minutes, this man came in mufti, not in uniform, a policeman, and he said, ‘Well, you have been invited by the AIG to come and help him.’

“I said, ‘You are a fool.’

“‘If the AIG wants me to help him, he will not be inviting me. He will come here,’” Obasanjo recalled.

He added: “So it was my own car that I used to take myself to the police station. We saw the AIG, and the AIG said, ‘I have been instructed to arrest you.’”

Obasanjo also disclosed that former United States President Jimmy Carter intervened in his situation by appealing to Abacha on his behalf.

He said he was initially detained at an undisclosed location before Carter’s intervention reportedly led to his being placed under house arrest.

However, he said the situation took another turn when security operatives arrived at his residence in the middle of the night and took him away while he was playing squash at about 1am.

According to him, he was subsequently transferred to prison.

“I didn’t know that it was a decision of Abacha that some of us must not be kept free; otherwise, he would feel unsafe. I was put in a place.

“Then President Jimmy Carter came. He pleaded, and then they put me under house arrest.

“Then they came one day; I was playing squash at about 1am. They came and said they were taking me away. And they took me away, and from there, I went to prison,” he stated.

Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 17, 1993, until his death on June 8, 1998. He seized power in a bloodless military coup that overthrew the Interim National Government led by Ernest Shonekan.

His regime was widely associated with repression, political persecution and the detention of opponents and critics.

Obasanjo’s arrest and imprisonment came during this period of military rule, but he was released following Abacha’s death in June 1998.

The former military ruler’s death paved the way for a transition to civilian government under General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who succeeded him as Head of State.

Following his release, Obasanjo entered partisan politics and contested the 1999 presidential election under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He won the election and was inaugurated on May 29, 1999, becoming the first democratically elected president of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic.

Obasanjo served two consecutive four-year terms, leaving office in May 2007 after handing over power to his successor, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.