I don’t know my real age, says Obasanjo

Although former President Olusegun Obasanjo will be celebrating his 80th birthday on Sunday, the elder statesman has confessed that he does not know his true age.

Speaking at the opening of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, on Thursday Obasanjo said his illiterate mother only told him that he was born on a market day.

He said the quest to know his actual date of birth took him to an astrologer in India, and that even though he could not achieve his aim, the man told him that he would live long.

“I do not know the date of my birth, when I started school, we were asked to give our date of birth. I used to ask my mother, and she would say ‘You were born on Ifo Market Day’,” he said.

“All my mother, an illiterate woman, could remember was that it was an Ifo Market Day and before the people who went to the market returned, she had fallen into labour and I was delivered.”

Obasanjo said since he could not tell his age, he decided to choose a date after considering the age of his peers.

“I’ decided to choose a date. At least if I don’t the exact date of my birth, I know my age group,” he said.

On why he established the library, he said: “I see many people sending books to me. The library is for the both young and old. I also believe that it might start bridging the gap between in our behaviour and attitude.

“One of our behavioural pattern and attitude is that we have no institutional memory; that is what brings about the idea of presidential library. If you go into our national museums, what you see will be pathetic but these are national treasure.”