Obasanjo: I Rejected US Asylum When Abacha Plotted My Arrest

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says he rejected the political asylum offered him by the United States government when the military regime of ex-head of state Sani Abacha wanted to arrest him.

Obasanjo spoke recently during an event organised by the department of school library and media technology at the University of Ibadan (UI).

Obasanjo served as Nigeria’s military head of state between 1976 and 1979. He was also civilian president from 1999 to 2007.

Speaking of his experience after he left the office of head of state, the ex-president said he retired from the military “too early” at the age of 42.

Obasanjo said he ventured into farming after retiring from the military, adding that the business was thriving until his arrest.

The former president said Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s head of state from 1993 to 1998, decided that he must be “liquidated” to have his way.

Obasanjo said as he made to return home from abroad, the US ambassador to Nigeria contacted him to offer political asylum following reports that the Abacha regime wanted him reined in.

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

“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.

“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 has offered me political asylum because they know that I would be arrested if I return home. This was difficult for me. I haven’t done anything.

“What do they want to arrest me for? I don’t want political asylum. And when I arrived, they seized my passport.

“I made it to my farm. At the gate of my farm was my security. He waved me down. He said, security has surrounded the farm.

“In less than 15 minutes, a man came in mufti, not in uniform, a policeman and he said, ‘well, you have been invited by AIG to come’.”

Obasanjo said he challenged the policeman that if the assistant-inspector of police (AIG) wanted to invite him, he would do so in person.

The former president said he drove to the police station himself.

Obasanjo said at the station, the AIG informed him that there was an order for his arrest.