Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has dismissed long-standing allegations that he once sought a third term in office, stressing that he never made any such move during his administration.

Obasanjo made the clarification while speaking at a recent Democracy Dialogue organized by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Ghana. He maintained that there is no evidence to support the claims, insisting he never approached anyone about extending his tenure.

“I’m not a fool. If I wanted a third term, I know how to go about it. And there is no Nigerian dead or alive that would say I called him and told him I wanted a third term,” the former president said.

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Highlighting his administration’s achievements, Obasanjo argued that securing international debt relief for Nigeria was a much greater challenge than pursuing a tenure elongation.

“I keep telling them that, look, if I wanted to get debt relief, which is more difficult than getting a third term and I got it, if I wanted a third term, I would have got it too,” he stated.

Obasanjo also used the platform to caution African leaders against clinging to power, describing the tendency as a sign of insecurity and a misplaced sense of indispensability.

“I know that the best is done when you are young, ideal, vibrant, and dynamic. When you are ‘kuje kuje’, you don’t have the best. But some people believe that unless they are there, nobody else can,” he remarked.

According to him, leaders who claim there are no competent successors are acting against divine will.

“They will even tell you that they haven’t got anybody else. I believe that is a sin against God, because if God takes you away, which God can do anytime, then somebody else will come, and that somebody else may do better or may do worse,” Obasanjo added.