Obasanjo, 89, Dismisses Fake Death Letter: 'I Dey Kampe'

Gift Davies 08:31 - 05 March 2026

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has dismissed a fake letter circulating online announcing his death, saying he remains healthy at 89.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo used his 89th birthday to publicly dismiss a fake letter circulating online that purported to announce his death, declaring that he remained in good health and had no intention of going anywhere soon.

"They publish and circulate a fake paper credited to me that I am writing, giving notice of my death, pafuka," Obasanjo said at a birthday colloquium held in Abeokuta on Wednesday. "That is their wish and surely not God's wish for me. I dey kampe as usual."

The former president, born March 6, 1937, did not identify those behind the letter but was pointed in his condemnation, describing them as "never-do-wells" wasting their time. He expressed certainty that God had more work for him to complete on earth and that he had been given the health and strength to see it through. He warned that those wishing him dead would face divine consequences.

The remarks came during a colloquium titled Burden and Blessing of Leadership: Reflections from Global Africa to the World, organised as part of his birthday ceremonies in Abeokuta.

Beyond addressing the fake letter, Obasanjo used the occasion to deliver a pointed assessment of Africa's leadership crisis, arguing that the continent's persistent poverty, instability, and underdevelopment were not products of geography or colonial history but of deliberate and sustained governance failures.

"Africa is not a problem to be managed but a promise to be fulfilled through honest, courageous, selfless, incorruptible and transformational leadership," he said.

He warned that too many leaders arrive in power with reform promises only to govern for personal and familial gain, silence opposition, and undermine the institutions they were elected to protect. "The same young reformer who promised accountability begins to silence the press, harass the judiciary, and intimidate civil society," he said.

Drawing on personal experience, Obasanjo reflected on the weight of consequential decision-making, including his imprisonment and near-execution under the late General Sani Abacha, as evidence of what genuine leadership demands. He also cited his administration's Paris Club debt relief deal and the founding of the EFCC as decisions made under pressure that he believed history had since validated.

On his personal well-being, he was unambiguous. "God has assured me He has more for me to do on earth, and He has given me the wherewithal to do it," he said.

Obasanjo served as Nigeria's president from 1999 to 2007