I still can’t tell my exact age — Obasanjo

Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has once again revealed that he is uncertain about his actual age, noting that estimates can only be drawn from the ages of his former classmates.

He explained that several of his contemporaries from primary school are still alive, and none of them is younger than 90 years.

Obasanjo made this disclosure on Sunday while speaking at the Toyin Falola Interview Series titled “A Conversation with His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.”

The session was moderated by Professor Toyin Falola, with the participation of the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Dr. Matthew Kukah, and former presidential candidate, Professor Kingsley Moghalu.

During the interview, the former president also spoke about the purpose behind establishing his presidential library, describing it as a tool for safeguarding national records and strengthening institutional memory. According to him, millions of documents have already been digitized

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He said, “We have digitalised over 3m materials. We still have about the same number, 3m to digitalise.

“The idea is when these materials are digitalised, people can have access to them. That is number one. As document preservation, we preserve the past, take note of the present and we want all these to inspire the future.”

Obasanjo further disclosed that several personal and historical records are preserved in the library, including his academic files and private correspondence.

He explained that the facility houses his primary and secondary school records, a letter he wrote to former military ruler, General Sani Abacha, after the death of his son, and another letter addressed to his wife during his imprisonment.

Despite the availability of these records, Obasanjo maintained that he still could not definitively state his age, but pointed to surviving classmates as possible references.

He said, “I don’t know my exact age but I could judge from those who were in school with me, I have given you an example of Olubara (Oba Jacob Olufemi Omolade, the Olubara of Ibara) who is still alive.

“I believe there are six of my classmates in secondary school that I know are still alive and none of them is less than 90 years of age. So I leave it to you to guess what my age could be.

“My school record card in primary school, I have been able to keep them and when I became President and I wanted to establish the library, they were available to be exhibited.

“My records in primary and secondary school and even the manuscripts of books that I have written, those that I wrote in prison and so on, even crops of maize that I planted when I was in prison, they are there and somehow I was able to keep them.

“Why the Presidential Library? I believe one of the things we don’t do too well in our society is that we don’t keep records too well, institutional memory is not what we do very well.”