General Olusegun Obasanjo, the 5th and 12th President of Nigeria – 1999 To 2007
General Olusegun Mattew Arewa Obasanjo is among the towering figures in Nigerian politics today. A retired military officer and former president, Obasanjo is largely recognized as one of the fathers of Modern Nigeria given his effort to see to the success of democracy in Nigeria today.
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He was the first military head of state who oversaw the smooth transfer of power to an elected president at a time when the military regime was at its peak in Africa. He pitched and saw the implementation of the Murtala-Obasanjo project. His unreserved spite for colonialism ordered his steps to oversee the independence of countries like Angola, Zimbabwe, etc.
Obasanjo during his presidential term, traveled around to the countries Nigeria owned debt to, seeking debt relief. His fight for corruption and institutionalizing of orderliness was remarkable. Till recent times, Obasanjo remains a voice in Nigeria and his advice is keyed in by Nigerian politicians.
Obasanjo’s early life and education
General Obasanjo emerged from a poor home until he walked into the limelight. Born on 5th March 1937 to Amos Adigun Obaluayesanjo and Bernice Ashabi Bankole in the small village of Ibogun-Olaogun, Ogun state, Nigeria, Obasanjo is the first of nine children, to which only he and his sister (Adunni Oluwole Obasanjo) survived.
Obasanjo was born into the Owu sub-ethnic group of Yoruba, and during his childhood years, he was raised in the Southern Baptist Church that branched out in the small village.
His father was a core farmer, however, until he matured at the age of 11, he began to follow his father to the farm. At the age of eleven, he was enrolled in the village elementary school but right in 1951, he got enrolled in Baptist Day school.
His academic excellence led to his transfer to Baptist Boys High School where his financial brunt was handled by the state through a grant. At some point during his teenage years, their father totally absconded their family, leaving the mother to project into trade from whence she raised money to cater for the family.
Being tough, Obasanjo offered help in the little ways he could to his mother by taking on menial jobs with which he finances his education. After he graduated from high school, Obasanjo, manned up and relocated to Ibadan where he operated on a meager salary from teaching jobs.
The lack of funds withheld his desire to venture into a university and as a result, he focused on civil engineering in 1958, he enlisted in the Nigerian Army after his response to an advert for Officer cadet training in the Nigerian Army. He received his first official training at the Regular Officers Special Training School in Teshie, Ghana. In the same year of 1958, he enlisted among others for an additional six months of training at Mons Officers Cadet School, Aldershot, England.
During these years of his training, however, Obasanjo maintained smooth communication with his fiancé, Oluremi Akinlawon, to whom he got engaged.
He furthered his military training at the Royal College of Military Engineering, Chatham, England; School of Survey, Newbury, England; Indian Defense College, Indian Army School of Engineering, Poona; and Royal Defense Studies, London.
When the six months of training in Aldershot, England ended, Obasanjo returned to Nigeria in 1959 and was sent to Kaduna where he served among the infantry of the Fifth Battalion. With this Battalion, Obasanjo served in Congo under the umbrella of the United Nations peacekeeping force during the crisis that lurked Lumumba’s government.
Right in 1961, he was transferred from the infantry to the Corps of Engineering and two years later, he was promoted to the rank of captain and commander of Engineering Corps.
However, Obasanjo kept making progress in the military, and in 1965, he became a major who chaired the Engineering unit of the Nigerian army. By all accounts, he invested his earnings by purchasing lands in both Kaduna and Lagos states by the 1960s.
Before And After the Civil War
On his return from India in 1966, Obsanjo was met with a state of chaos brewing between the northerners and Igbos because of the military coup which was tagged the “Igbo coup” by the northerners.
However, he made a stern effort to mediate between the warring factions so the disagreement would not melt into a civil war, yet no tangible results yielded from his efforts. After Ojukwu declared the state of Biafra, the military head of State, Gowon, sent Obasanjo to Lagos to serve as the commander of the western state.
He cultivated efforts to combat the separatist group during the period the war lasted, and by 1969, he emerged into the limelight when he launched his “Operation Tail Wind” which ended the lives of many Biafran army, and the capture of Uli airstrip, and later the Biafran fighters yielded bringing an end to the three years debilitating war.
Moving to 1971, he seemingly recognized the surrender of the Biafran army to the Nigerian government. In 1972, Obasanjo was promoted to the rank of Brigadier for his numerous works. The Gowon government blessed him with the position of commissioner of Works and Housing, from whence he committed his project of building military barracks nationwide.
During the military junta of 1975, Obasanjo was among the triumvirate that led the Supreme Military Council as Murtala Mohammed’s second-in-command. After the bloody assassination of Murtala Mohammed on February 13, 1976, Obasanjo was appointed by the Supreme Military Council to step in as the head of state.
Pointedly, during his era, he ensured to host a day where topical issues were addressed within the council. He introduced the reciting of the National anthem. He made resounding efforts to ensure that the high inflation rate of the period was combated by reducing the government’s expenditure. He fizzed out more money on education, health, facilities, agriculture, and housing.
He took serious steps to stop the continuous labor strikes during his era. The issue of electricity was solved when he embarked on the construction of hydroelectric projects and thermal plants. He ensured that Nigeria’s oil remained an important part of the economy, therefore, he merged the Ministry of Petroleum Resources with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The crumble of agricultural activities and production of local foods which was neglected by his predecessors was solved during his era as he introduced Operation Feed The Nation (OFN), a program that was aimed at revitalizing small-scale farming.
The OFN program equally paid students who indulged in agricultural production, and Nigeria’s agricultural production capacity for the period grew significantly. Additionally, he saw the re-establishment of the FESTAC game which portrays his Pan-Africanist idea.
His effortless handover of the reins of office to the civilian government in 1979 left Africans and the world in a state of shock. He happened to be the only military leader to have done such. However, that was to fulfill his and Murtala Mohammed’s program that promised a handover to a civilian government.
In 1995, he was imprisoned by Sani Abacha whose dictatorial regime Obasanjo fiercely opposed. While in prison, it was said that he was transformed after an encounter with God and became a full-fledged Christian.
Immediately after the sudden death of Sani Abacha in 1998, Obasanjo tasted freedom. Obasanjo and some other political prisoners were released by Abdulsalami Abubakar, who served as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1998 to 1999.
After that, he revived his political career by becoming a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and in 1999, he was elected as a civilian president of Nigeria. His four-year rule ended in 2003 and he contested and won again as the president. Fast forward to 2007, his rule was exhausted and he was succeeded by Musa Ya’rdua.
His legacy and remembrance
Obasanjo’s legacy is not without controversy. Some critics argue that his presidency had its fair share of challenges, including accusations of corruption within his administration and questions about the effectiveness of his policies in addressing the nation’s primary problems.
Nonetheless, General Olusegun Obasanjo remains a prominent and influential figure in Nigeria’s political landscape. His contributions to the country’s history, both as a military leader and a civilian president, continue to be a subject of debate and discussion, depending on who you ask.
While his legacy might be a complex one, shaped by both accomplishments and controversies, his impact on Nigeria’s political evolution is undeniable.
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