Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said Jimmy Carter visited Sani Abacha, the late military dictator to plead for his release from prison.
Gatekeepers News reports that Obasanjo said this in a tribute to Carter, the late American president, who died on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100.
The tribute, titled “Jimmy Carter: The Departure of a Titan”, was read during a memorial service held on Sunday at Chapel of Christ the Glorious King, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun state.
Obasanjo was arrested, tried, and sentenced to prison by the Abacha junta on March 13, 1995, over alleged involvement in a failed military coup.
Obasanjo recounted how Carter was the only President outside Africa who visited Nigeria and got the late dictator to release him from prison, and he was placed on house arrest.
He said, “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 around Africa and the rest of the world to thank all those who worked for my release.”
Obasanjo added that he was surprised and overwhelmed when Carter told him that Ted Turner, CNN founder, had offered to take care of him and his family upon his release.
He said, “was touched and moved to tears. I immediately went to Ted, who expressed to me the same sentiment that President Carter expressed,” Obasanjo said.”
The former president reflected on similarities he shared with Carter, stating that they have the same military backgrounds and were born into farming families that instilled discipline in them.
He added, “He beat me though in one respect; there was a road to his settlement, and there was no road to my village. We walked to every place or, at best, we were carried on bicycles.”
Obasanjo further he would miss Carter, “a great and true friend but I know we shall meet again in paradise.”
