Obasanjo: How Jimmy Carter visited Abacha to seek my release from prison

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said Jimmy Carter was the only leader outside Africa who visited Sani Abacha, the late military dictator, solely to plead for his release from prison.

Obasanjo stated this in a tribute to Carter, the late American president, who passed on December 29, 2024, aged 100.

The tribute, titled “Jimmy Carter: The Departure of a Titan”, was read during a memorial service held on Sunday at the Chapel of Christ the Glorious King, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun state.

Obasanjo was arrested, tried, and sentenced to prison by the Abacha junta in 1995 over alleged involvement in a failed military coup.

Obasanjo narrated how Carter visited Nigeria and got Abacha to release him (Obasanjo) from prison, and he was placed on house arrest.

He said that although many others intervened to seek his release, Carter was the only one who had visited Nigeria solely for that purpose.

“President Carter was one of my foreign friends who stuck their necks out to save my life and to seek my release from prison. On President Carter’s visit to Nigeria, he got Abacha to agree to take me from detention to house arrest on my farm. But that did not last for too long,” Obasanjo said.

“Many other friends and leaders intervened, but President Carter was the only non-African leader, according to my information, that paid a visit to Abacha solely to plead for my release.

“I would remain ever grateful to all who worked for my release from Abacha’s gulag. Abacha ensured that I would not be released. Within a week of his death, though, I was released by his successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who also facilitated my going around Africa and the rest of the world to thank all those who worked for my release.”

Obasanjo further said he was surprised when Carter told him that Ted Turner, CNN founder, had offered to take care of him and his family upon his release.

“I was touched and moved to tears. I immediately went to Ted, who expressed to me the same sentiment that President Carter expressed,” Obasanjo said.

The elder statesman said he and Carter shared some similarities, including their military backgrounds and being born into farming families that instilled discipline in them.

“He beat me though in one respect; there was a road to his settlement, and there was no road to my village. We walked to every place or, at best, we were carried on bicycles,” he said.

Obasanjo said he would miss Carter, “a great and true friend but I know we shall meet again in paradise”.

Speaking during an interactive session with young African leaders at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library OOPL during the weekend, Obasanjo said his refusal to keep quiet on national and international issues landed him in detention during Abacha’s tenure.