Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed how he ran from power until he eventually became president.
Obasanjo pledged his allegiance to Africa and Nigeria, adding that their sterling values made him a Pan-Africanist and Nigerian to the core.
He spoke on Sunday at a symposium to mark his 85th birthday organized by the Kegite Club at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta.
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The Eternal Grandpatron of the Kegite Club tasked the association to be united and avoid rancour.
“If anything that should be Nigeria, is not Nigeria, I will not be part of it. If anything that should be Africa is not Africa, count me out of it.
“I will only be your Kegite eternal grand patron if you all bury your hatchets so that by next year of my birthday, we will all be together again”, he said.
Farounbi said that Obasanjo rejected the call for him to become the Head of State in 1976.
This was after the coup that claimed the lives of General Murtala Muhammed and other military officers.
“I also know that he did everything possible to reject becoming the candidate of PDP and ultimately the president in 1999 elections.
“I can say authoritatively because I was involved. He had no interest in pursuing power.”
Reacting, Obasanjo confirmed that he was once reluctant to be in political power.
“I was trained as a soldier. One of my training is that soldiering and politics don’t go together and I stuck to that.
“While I stuck to separation between soldiering and politics, power started chasing me. I ran and ran until I could not run out of the reach of power.
“I believed that without been immodest, the fact that I was not looking for power, power was looking for me make a drought of business”, he said.
