I rejected US asylum before Abacha jailed me — Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that he rejected an offer of political asylum from the United States despite being warned that he risked arrest if he returned to Nigeria during the regime of late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

Obasanjo also recounted how his decision to return to Nigeria despite the warning eventually led to his arrest and imprisonment, following what he described as a difficult period under Abacha's government.

The former president disclosed this in an interview published by BBC News Pidgin on Tuesday, while narrating his experiences after leaving office as military Head of State in 1979.

Obasanjo, who is now 89, said 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 the country's military ruler.

He explained that he felt he had reached the highest possible position in the military and had no reason to continue serving after becoming Head of State.

“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,” he said.

“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 became military Head of State on February 13, 1976, following the assassination of General Murtala Muhammed. He governed until October 1, 1979, when he handed over power to the civilian administration of President Shehu Shagari.

He said his farming business was progressing before the Abacha regime moved against him.

Recounting how he received the offer of asylum, Obasanjo said the American ambassador in Nigeria contacted him while he was travelling and informed him that the US government had offered him protection because it anticipated his arrest if he returned home.

“Abacha had decided that I must be liquidated; otherwise he would not be able to have his way. I didn't know that,” he said.

He added, “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.”

Obasanjo said he rejected the offer because he believed he had committed no offence that warranted his arrest.

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

He said that upon returning to Nigeria, his passport was seized, after which he headed to his farm.

According to him, one of his security details stopped him at the entrance and informed him that government security operatives had surrounded the property.

He said a policeman dressed in mufti subsequently approached him, claiming that an Assistant Inspector-General of Police had invited him.

Obasanjo recalled rejecting the approach, insisting that an AIG who wanted to see him should come personally rather than send an invitation through an unidentified officer.

“I said, ‘You are a fool. If the AIG wants me to help him, he will not be inviting me. He will come here’,” he said.

He explained that he eventually drove himself to the police station, where the AIG informed him that he had received instructions to arrest him.

“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’,” he recounted.

The former president also acknowledged the intervention of former United States President Jimmy Carter, who he said appealed to Abacha on his behalf.

According to Obasanjo, he was initially held at an undisclosed location before Carter's intervention resulted in his being placed under house arrest.

He, however, said his detention took another turn when security operatives arrived at about 1am while he was playing squash and took him away to prison.

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

“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.”

Obasanjo was arrested and imprisoned during Abacha's military government, which lasted from November 17, 1993, until the general's death on June 8, 1998.

Abacha had seized power following the overthrow of the Interim National Government led by Ernest Shonekan.

Following his release after Abacha's death in 1998, Obasanjo returned to active politics and contested the 1999 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.

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

Obasanjo served two terms of four years each before handing over power in May 2007.