Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has again said he does not know his real age, noting that he can only estimate it by comparing himself with his surviving primary and secondary school classmates.
Obasanjo spoke on Sunday, December 7, during the Toyin Falola Interviews series tagged “A Conversation with His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.”
Naija News reports that the session was anchored by Nigerian historian, Professor Toyin Falola, alongside the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Dr Matthew Kukah, and former presidential candidate, Professor Kingsley Moghalu.
Reiterating his long-held position on the uncertainty of his birth year, the former President said his best reference point remains those he went to school with.
He said, “I don’t know my exact age but I could judge from those who were in school with me. I have given you an example of Olubara (Oba Jacob Olufemi Omolade, the Olubara of Ibara) who is still alive.
I believe there are six of my classmates in secondary school that I know are still alive and none of them is less than 90 years of age. So I leave it to you to guess what my age could be.”
Why I established The Presidential Library – Obasanjo
Obasanjo also spoke extensively about the purpose of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, saying it was created to preserve institutional memory and important historical documents.
According to him, record-keeping remains one of Nigeria’s biggest weaknesses.
He said, “We have digitalised over 3m materials. We still have about the same number, 3m, to digitalise. The idea is when these materials are digitalised, people can have access to them. That is number one. As document preservation, we preserve the past, take note of the present and we want all these to inspire the future.”
The former President explained that the library holds several items documenting different stages of his life, including his school records and letters written during his time in prison.
He disclosed, “My school record card in primary school, I have been able to keep them and when I became President and I wanted to establish the library, they were available to be exhibited. My records in primary and secondary school and even the manuscripts of books that I have written, those that I wrote in prison and so on, even crops of maize that I planted when I was in prison, they are there and somehow I was able to keep them.”
He added that the library also contains his letter to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, following the death of his son in an accident, as well as a letter he wrote to his wife while he was in prison.
Obasanjo insisted that the establishment of the library was a response to the country’s poor culture of documentation.
“Why the Presidential Library? I believe one of the things we don’t do too well in our society is that we don’t keep records too well; institutional memory is not what we do very well,” he said.
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