On Sunday, former President Olusegun Obasanjo hosted a memorial service in honor of his late friend and former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter.
Obasanjo paid heartfelt tributes to the American leader, calling him a “titan and man of peace.”
Carter, the 39th President of the United States and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his post-presidential humanitarian efforts, passed away at the age of 100 on December 29, 2024, at his home in Plains, Georgia.
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The service took place at the Chapel of Christ the Glorious King, located at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
During the event, Obasanjo shared a personal recollection of how Carter went out of his way to save his life.
He recounted how Carter personally visited Nigeria’s then Head of State, General Sani Abacha, to plead for his release from prison.
He said, “President Carter was one of my foreign friends who stuck their necks out to save my life and to seek my release from prison. On President Carter’s visit to Nigeria, he got Abacha to agree to take me from detention to house arrest on my farm. But that did not last for too long.
“Many other friends and leaders intervened but President Carter was the only non-African leader, according to my information, that paid a visit to Abacha solely to plead for my release.
“I would remain ever grateful to all who worked for my release from Abacha’s gulag. Abacha ensured that I would not be released. Within a week of his death though, I was released by his successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who also facilitated my going round Africa and the rest of the world to thank all those who worked for my release.”
He mentioned that Carter later told him about the efforts made by Ted Turner, the American entrepreneur and founder of Cable News Network (CNN), along with others, to secure his release.
“But the most surprising thing Carter said to me was, ‘Please see Ted Turner and thank him for his generosity. He came to me and asked me to get his friend, Obasanjo, released from prison. ‘I will take care of him and his family here or wherever he chooses to live’.
“I was touched and moved to tears. I immediately went to Ted who expressed to me the same sentiment that President Carter expressed,” he said.
‘What Carter and I shared in common’
In the tributes titled “JIMMY CARTER: THE DEPARTURE OF A TITAN,” the Ota farmer explained that he shared many things in common with Cater including an early life background.
He said “In terms of early life background, I shared similarity with President Jimmy Carter. He was born into a farming family in Plains, Georgia, and I was born into a farming family in the rural village of Ibogun-Olaogun in Ogun State.
“He grew up under a father and mother who were disciplinarians, who instilled in him the essence of discipline, morality, hard work, integrity, kindness and humility, compassion for the poor and strong belief in God. My parents inculcated similar attributes in me as I was growing up in a rural area that had no pipe water, no electricity just as it was in Plains, Georgia, while Jimmy Carter was growing there.
“He beat me though in one respect; there was a road to his settlement, there was no road to my village. We walked to every place or, at best, we were carried on bicycles.
“President Carter had a military background which I had and, in fact, we met when I was a military Head of State. But if not that we were both in politics, our paths may not have crossed.
“When I became Nigeria’s military Head of State, one major issue that Africa was facing, among others, was removing the last vestiges of colonization and getting rid of
apartheid all in Southern Africa.”
Obasanjo said he would miss Carter, “a great and true friend but I know we shall meet again in Paradise.”
He said, “One great lesson I learned from President Carter was that in his leadership, he carried along an army of co-workers that shared the ideal and the burden of the work with him. He led by example and in humility and that made success to attend his
way.”
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