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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said everything about him, including his emergence as both a military Head of State and President, was by accident.
Obasanjo was military Head of State from 1976 to 1979, and a civilian President bewteen 1999 and 2007.
While featuring on a live radio interview with former Nigeria footballer, Segun Odegbami, in Abeokuta, on Saturday, Obasanjo said he was always proud to be addressed as a farmer.
Odegbami had asked Obasanjo to speak about what he termed his “romance with farming.”
In response, the former president said: “I don’t like the word you used, ‘romance with farming’. I am a farmer. What do you mean by romance. Everything I have done in my life is by accident. The only thing that is not accidental is farming. Every other thing that I’ve been is by accident. And you called that romance? No! What do you mean by romance?
“You know my beginning. I was born and bred in a village. I went to school by accident. My father just said, ‘won’t you do something different?’ So I went into farming.
“When you look at countries that have made it, they developed on agriculture. First, for the purpose of food security; second, for the purpose of processing what they get from their farms, which is the beginning of industrialisation. Third, to give it out as export, which is for the purpose of foreign exchange; and fourth, as a means of generating employment for the youth.”
Speaking further, the former president advised Nigerian youths to take over leadership positions right.
He said youths should not allow anyone to address them as leaders of tomorrow, saying the tomorrow may never come.
Obasanjo said some corrupt leaders would destroy the so-called tomorrow if the younger generation failed to rise up and take their future in their hands.
“My advice for Nigerian youths is that, never let anybody tell you that you are the leaders of tomorrow. If you wait for tomorrow before you take over leadership, that tomorrow may not come. They will destroy it.
“This is the time, youths get up and make it happen,” he said.
(The PUNCH)