My emergence as Nigerian president accidental - Obasanjo

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that most of his life accomplishments, including his emergence as both a military Head of State and President of Nigeria, have come by accident.

Obasanjo holds the record for being the only Nigerian leader who, as a military Head of State, handed over to a civilian government in 1979 and came back to take over as a democratically elected president after 20 years of military rule.

Apart from his stints as Nigeria's leader, Obasanjo is reputed for being passionate about farming and since the end of his second tenure in 2007, he has retired to his Obasanjo Farm in Otta, Ogun State.

While appearing on a live radio interview with Segun Odegbami on Eagles7 Sports 103.7 FM, Abeokuta, on Saturday, the former President said he was always proud to be addressed as a farmer, The Punch reports.

The show host had asked Obasanjo to speak about what he termed his “romance with farming.”

While responding, the former president said, “I don’t like the word you used, ‘romance with farming’. I am a farmer. What do you mean by romance. Everything I have done in my life is by accident. The only thing that is not accidental is farming. Every other thing that I’ve been is by accident. And you called that romance? No! What do you mean by romance?

“You know my beginning. I was born and bred in a village. I went to school by accident. My father just said, ‘won’t you do something different?’ So I went into farming.

“When you look at countries that have made it, they developed on agriculture. First, for the purpose of food security; second, for the purpose of processing what they get from their farms, which is the beginning of industrialisation. Third, to give it out as export, which is for the purpose of foreign exchange; and fourth, as a means of generating employment for the youth.”

Meanwhile, the Owu strongman told Nigerian youths that the time is ripe for them to take over leadership positions in the country.

He said youths should reject the tag of being the leaders of tomorrow as the tomorrow may never come.

He said, “My advice for Nigerian youths is that, never let anybody tell you that you are the leaders of tomorrow. If you wait for tomorrow before you take over leadership, that tomorrow may not come. They will destroy it.

“This is the time, youths get up and make it happen.”