Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on Sunday, paid tribute to Former President of the United States of America, Jimmy Carter, saying that he was the only non-African leader who attempted to plead for his release from prison under the Military Junta of General Sanni Abacha.
Elder statesman, Olusegun Obasanjo, was jailed by Abacha in 1995 for being part of a planned Coup.
Obasanjo, who made the revelation at a Memorial Service he organised for Carter held at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, (OOPL) Chapel, Abeokuta, Ogun State, said that Carter joined other African leaders to ask Abacha to release him from jail.
He specifically said that Carter was one of his foreign allies who went to meet Abacha on his release but got him to agree to take him from detention and grant him house arrest on his farm, insisting that he would forever be grateful to the late US ex-President.
The two-term civilian president stated that although Abacha declined his release despite Carter’s and other leaders’ pleas because he wanted to rule Nigeria for life, noting that he would not forget the role the deceased and his friend, Ted Turner played in seeking his release from prison.
He said that Carter would have been a two-term President of the US, but could not secure a second term in office because the US and other parts of the world misconstrued his goodness for weakness especially his work for peace and resolution of conflict particularly Israel and Egypt and the decency he brought to the ‘Watergate’ scandal in the US.
Obasanjo said that after his release from prison, he went to Africa and other parts of the world to thank Carter and Turner as well as other African leaders for their efforts in trying to persuade Abacha to release him, maintaining that he and Carter would meet in paradise.
He said”In the evenings of our lives, I became a victim of a militarist man – Sani Abacha – who wanted to rule Nigeria perpetually till the end of his life. President Carter was one of my foreign friends who stuck their necks out to save my life and to seek my release from prison.”
“On President Carter’s visit to Nigeria, he got Abacha to agree to take me from detention to house arrest on my farm. But that did not last for too long. Many other friends and leaders intervened but President Carter was the only non-African leader, according to my information, who paid a visit to Abacha solely to plead for my release. I would remain ever grateful to all who worked for my release from Abacha’s gulag.
“Abacha ensured that I would not be released. Within a week of his death though, I was released by his successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who also facilitated my going around Africa and the rest of the world to thank all those who worked for my release. In the US, I called on President Jimmy Carter who told me all the efforts he made with other leaders and Abacha remaining unyielding for my release.
“But the most surprising thing Carter said to me was, “Please see Ted Turner and thank him for his generosity. He came to me and asked me to get his friend, Obasanjo, released from prison. ‘I will take care of him and his family here or wherever he chooses to live.” I was touched and moved to tears. I immediately went to Ted who expressed to me the same sentiment that President Carter expressed.”
“He proved his generosity and I kept going back to President Carter anytime I could spare to express my gratitude to him. For me, I would miss a great and true friend but I know we shall meet again in Paradise. One great lesson I learned from President Carter was that in his leadership, he carried along an army of co-workers who shared the ideal and the burden of the work with him. He led by example and in humility and that made success come his way. May his soul rest in peace.”
“Carter was a man of peace and a man for peace. He brought decency to the presidency after the ‘Watergate’ scandal, which was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon which began in 1972 and ultimately led to Nixon’s resignation in 1974. His work for peace, resolution of conflict, human rights and so on should have made him a two-term President but his goodness was misconstrued for weakness and both the US and the world especially Africa lost the opportunity for his services in the US Government for another four years”, he added.