Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Sunday revealed that late South African President Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, a retired Anglican Bishop and South African rights activist, made him (Obasanjo) contested for the 1999 presidential race.
The former President during a church service organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria, Ogun State Chapter to mark his 80th birthday, said that Mandela told him to follow ‘instinct’ when people were on his neck to rule Nigeria.
Obasanjo said: “When I came out from prison for the offence I didn’t commit and people started putting pressure on me to be Nigeria’s President, I was confused. But in that confusion I seek advice, not from here. I went first to Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Mandela said ‘Olu (Olusegun) whatever your instinct tells you, follow it’.
“Tutu, after listening to me, said ‘are you tired of serving God and your people.’ He now said ‘my advice to you is that go and do what your people asked you to do.’”
Explaning how a bible passage finally convinced him, Obasanjo said: “When I now came back, one day I was reading the book of Esther and I saw where Modekiah said you are here for your people and I started changing my mind from there”.
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