Former President Olusegun Obasanjo revealed that during his tenure as Nigeria’s Head of State, the late U.S. President Jimmy Carter “would not do anything in Africa without his knowledge.”
The statement, made on Monday in Abeokuta, was a veiled commentary on the “ongoing controversy over President Donald Trump’s military action threat” on Nigeria.
Trump had publicly condemned the “continued killings of Christians in Nigeria” in posts on X between October 31 and November 1, “declaring America’s readiness to send its military to Nigeria if the Federal Government failed to stop the killings by jihadist groups.”
This position had “sparked divergent reactions” from Nigerian leaders, religious organizations, and the Federal Government, which “particularly rejected Trump’s allegations,” insisting that the country’s insecurity “affects all religious groups.”
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Speaking at the Presidential Youth Mentorship Retreat (6.0), Obasanjo did not directly mention the Trump controversy but tactfully recalled the high regard the U.S. held for Nigeria under Carter, who died in December 2024 and was considered a close friend of Obasanjo’s.
Obasanjo stated that the world, including America, viewed Nigeria as “Africa’s leader” right from independence, a position the country “lost the confidence at some point before the Muritala-Obasanjo military regime ‘brought it back.’ ”
Recalling the era of President Carter, Obasanjo stated: “When I was military head of state, President Jimmy Carter was the president of America, he would not do anything in Africa without informing us. They are not taking permission from us but they will tell us that ‘they are doing this.’”
He added: “When I was president and Head of State, three American presidents came to Nigeria. They have not lost anything that they were looking for in Nigeria. What did they see? At Independence, the world saw Nigeria as a giant coming up.”
Obasanjo also recalled that the military leaders of that era, who were mostly under 40, were “always driven by the belief that Africa and Nigeria must be liberated.”
He said: “We were young. We were idealistic and we knew what we wanted for Nigeria. It was not about money. We were young, we were all under 40, all of us. We were probably a bit naïve too. But our ambition is not money.”
The retreat’s theme was “Africa and the Conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.”
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