Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said his emergence as both a military Head of State and President of Nigeria, was by accident.
He disclosed this on Saturday in a live radio interview with Segun Odegbami on Eagles7 Sports 103.7 FM, Abeokuta as reported by The Punch.
Mr Obasanjo was Head of State in 1978 and elected civilian President in 1999.
The interviewee asked Obasanjo to speak about what he termed his “romance with farming.”
In response, Obasanjo 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.”
Also, Obasanjo advised Nigerian youths to take over leadership positions right now.
He said, “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.”
