Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has narrated how the late former United States of America (USA) President, Jimmy Carter, saved his life from the gallows of Gen. Sani Abacha.
Obasanjo stated that the former American President was one who stucked out his neck to save his life when he paid Gen. Abacha a visit solely to secure his release.
The former Nigerian leader stated this on Sunday at a memorial service in honour of his late friend, Jimmy Carter, held at the Chapel of Christ the Glorious King, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun state.
Carter, the 39th president of the United States and the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his post-presidential work, died at 100, on December 29, 2024, at his home in Plains, Georgia.
While paying glowing tributes to the American leader who he described as a “titan and man of peace.” Obasanjo said that he would miss Carter, “a great and true friend but I know we shall meet again in Paradise”, he added.
“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, that 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 round Africa and the rest of the world to thank all those who worked for my release,” he said.
Obasanjo added that Carter later informed him of the efforts of Ted Turner, an American entrepreneur and founder of the Cable News Network (CNN), and others to secure his 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 said.