God gave me grace more than what I deserve- Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has given insight into the secret of his perceived good health and strength despite his old age. He is 83 years old but looking quite fit and athletic.

In a recent BBC Yoruba programme monitored by Church Times, Obasanjo said he could not specifically tell the reason why he is blessed with good health but that the grace of God has been enormous in his life.

He recalled that while he was growing up, his parents didn’t know anything about panadol or cerelac that babies used to take but that he was fed on breast milk throughout his growing up years.

He, however, said ‘the main reason I am still looking healthy despite being old is that when God created me he gave me the grace that was more than what I deserve. God has done me well. The good thing that has happened to me is not because I am wiser than my colleagues or better than them. God has shown me great love’ he said.

Obasanjo who was two times Nigeria’s leader, first as a military head of state and then as a civilian president said there was no way he could have come out of prison if General Sani Abacha who incarcerated him was alive

He said, ‘when I was in prison, Abacha had vowed that three of us would not come out. He said Shehu Yaradua would not come out, he said Chief Moshood Abiola, my classmate in school and friend would not come out and myself. Of those three, I am the only one that came out alive. This can only be favour and not my doing,’ he said.

Obasanjo said further, ‘if God did not save me I could not have been delivered from Abacha. It is the grace of God that brought me out. God has done great things in my life. There is nothing I am looking for that I do not have. So I have no other job other than to be praising God. I would spend the rest of my life to praise God and serve him and also serve humanity. My prayer is that God will give me the grace to experience Nigeria as one of the greatest nations of the world.’