Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has recounted how former military Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha, ordered his arrest and imprisonment, disclosing that he rejected an offer of political asylum from the United States despite warnings that returning to Nigeria could lead to his arrest.
Obasanjo also narrated how former United States President Jimmy Carter intervened on his behalf, appealing to Abacha after his arrest and reportedly securing his transfer from detention to house arrest before security operatives eventually took him to prison.
The former president made the revelations in an interview with BBC News Pidgin on Tuesday, while recounting his experience during Abacha’s military regime.
Obasanjo, now 89, also spoke about his decision to retire from the Nigerian Army at the age of 42 after attaining the rank of a four-star general and serving as the country’s military Head of State.
He explained that after handing over power to former President Shehu Shagari on October 1, 1979, he believed he had attained the highest position possible within the military and decided to venture into farming.
According to him, although he had not initially intended to retire from the Army at such a young age, his achievements in the military left him with little else to aspire to.
Obasanjo said he had attained the rank of a four-star general and had already served as Nigeria’s military ruler, making farming his preferred option after leaving office.
“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,” he said.
The former president disclosed that his farming activities were progressing successfully until Abacha allegedly decided that he must be eliminated, describing the move as part of a broader attempt to remove perceived threats to the military government.
He said he was outside Nigeria when the American ambassador 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 to the country.
However, Obasanjo said he rejected the offer, insisting that he had committed no offence that would justify seeking refuge outside Nigeria.
He maintained that he could not understand why he should abandon his country when he had done nothing wrong.
“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 said.
Obasanjo further narrated how his passport was seized upon his return to Nigeria, after which he proceeded to his farm.
He said that upon arriving at the entrance of the farm, one of his security personnel stopped him and disclosed that security operatives had surrounded the premises.
According to him, 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 senior police officer genuinely needed his assistance, he should personally come to meet him.
He recalled describing the officer who delivered the invitation as a fool, arguing that an AIG should not summon him through such an approach if he genuinely required his assistance.
He eventually drove himself to the police station in his personal vehicle, 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.’”
The former president also revealed that former United States President Jimmy Carter intervened after he was detained, appealing directly to Abacha on his behalf.
According to Obasanjo, he was initially held at an undisclosed location before Carter’s intervention reportedly resulted in his being placed under house arrest.
However, he said his 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.
He explained that the operatives arrived unexpectedly and informed him that he was being taken away, after which he was 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 said.
Abacha ruled Nigeria from November 17, 1993, until his death on June 8, 1998, following a bloodless military coup that overthrew the Interim National Government led by Ernest Shonekan.
His administration was widely criticised for political repression, human rights violations, persecution of opponents and the detention of critics of the military government.
Obasanjo’s arrest and imprisonment occurred during this period, as the regime intensified its crackdown on individuals considered threats to its continued hold on power.
He remained in prison until Abacha’s death in June 1998, which brought an end to the military ruler’s administration and opened the way for another transition to civilian rule.
Following Abacha’s death, General Abdulsalami Abubakar took over as Head of State and initiated a transition programme that eventually restored democratic government in 1999.
After 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 Nigeria’s first democratically elected president under the 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.