Obasanjo Reveals Why He Rejected US Political Asylum Before Abacha Jailed Him

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that he rejected an offer of political asylum from the United States despite warnings that he would be arrested if he returned to Nigeria during the military regime of late General Sani Abacha.

Obasanjo disclosed this while recounting his experience under Abacha’s government in an interview published by BBC News Pidgin on Tuesday.

The former president explained that the American ambassador to Nigeria contacted him while he was travelling and informed him that the United States had offered him political asylum because of concerns that he would be arrested if he returned home.

According to Obasanjo, he rejected the offer because he had committed no offence that warranted seeking refuge in another country.

He recalled that after retiring from the Nigerian Army at the age of 42, having attained the rank of a four-star general and served as military Head of State, he decided to venture into farming.

Obasanjo said his farming business was progressing well until the Abacha administration moved against him.

He alleged that Abacha had decided that he must be eliminated to prevent him from standing in the way of the military ruler’s ambitions.

Recounting the conversation with the American ambassador, Obasanjo said he was informed that the United States government had offered him asylum because it anticipated that he would be arrested upon returning to Nigeria.

However, he maintained that he saw no reason to accept the offer, insisting that he had done nothing wrong.

The former president subsequently returned to Nigeria, but his passport was seized upon arrival.

He said he later proceeded to his farm, where one of his security aides informed him that government security operatives had surrounded the property.

Obasanjo recalled that a police officer dressed in mufti subsequently approached him, claiming that an Assistant Inspector-General of Police wanted him to report for questioning.

He said he initially insisted that the police officer’s superior should come to the farm if he wanted to see him, but eventually drove himself to the police station.

According to him, the Assistant Inspector-General informed him that he had received instructions to arrest him.

Obasanjo also recounted how former United States President Jimmy Carter intervened on his behalf by appealing to Abacha, an intervention he said resulted in his transfer from confinement to house arrest.

However, he said security operatives later arrived at about 1 a.m. while he was playing squash and took him away to prison.

Obasanjo was eventually released following Abacha’s death in June 1998 and subsequently contested the 1999 presidential election, which he won.

He served as Nigeria’s civilian president from 1999 to 2007.

His latest revelation offers a personal account of the political persecution he said he experienced under Abacha’s military government and the circumstances surrounding his arrest and imprisonment.