How i became head of state, president – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has opened up on circumstances that surrounded his emergence as the leader of Nigeria twice.

Obasanjo, who spoke on Saturday on a live radio interview with Segun Odegbami on Eagles7 Sports 103.7 FM, Abeokuta, said everything about him is accident.

He disclosed that his emergence as both a military Head of State and President of Nigeria was also by accident as he did have the ambition to lead the country but circumstances thrust him power.

Obasanjo who was an ex-military Head of State before he was elected as a civilian President in 1999, said he was a farmer by choice and not by accident.

Asked to speak about what he termed his “romance with farming.”, Obasanjo said he was always proud to be addressed as a farmer.

In response, the former president 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.”