I was deaf without knowing it – Obasanjo

• Obasanjo stated that many people in the world are battling deafness without knowing it until they go for medical checks

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed that he once suffered hearing difficulty

He made the disclosure on Sunday in Bauchi when he visited the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Suleiman-Adamu.

He said he suffered 25 per cent hearing loss without knowing it.

Obasanjo stated that many people in the world are battling deafness without knowing it until they go for medical checks on their hearing capacity before it would be revealed to them.

He recounted that he was abroad and couldn’t hear clearly when someone was talking to him, and insisted nothing was wrong with his ears, and the man asked his permission to check on the ears.

Obasanjo said the result of the clinical analysis showed he was 25 per cent deaf.

“After my result came out, I had to ask the man to also check on my Chief Security Officer then but shockingly enough, he was more deaf than I was,” he said.

This experience, he said, formed the creation of the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation, adding that thousands of Nigerians had benefitted from its ear treatment and provision of hearing aids in partnership with Starkey Hearing Foundation.

The former president said he would inaugurate the distribution of hearing aids targeting about 10,000 indigent people in the North-East, starting from Bauchi State where 2,000 people would benefit.