Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former military and democratic leader, told his story on Wednesday about how his late wife, Stella Obasanjo, contacted various global leaders in an effort to win his release from prison.
On March 17, 1995, the military administration commanded by General Sani Abacha imprisoned Obasanjo and convicted him guilty of plotting to overthrow the military government.
According to FMT BLOG, despite this, Obasanjo was elected as civilian president in 1999.
The former President reflected on his political path today while delivering a speech in Benin City at the inauguration of the Stella Obasanjo Hospital, which has been extended and rebuilt by the Edo State administration.
Governor Godwin Obaseki’s government named the facility after Stella Obasanjo.
In his remarks as a special guest, Obasanjo praised his wife’s tireless efforts to obtain his freedom.
He said: “When I was in prison, that woman left no stone unturned. She went all over the world to seek my release. She went to Japan, she went to the entire Europe, she went to the Vatican, she went to Latin America, she went through Africa, she left no stone unturned for my release and God answered her prayers and the prayers of all those praying for me, and I came out of prison alive.
“What could I do? I thought, coming out of prison, I’ve had it all. When we were planning for my wife’s 60th birthday anniversary, we never had that birthday anniversary before she died.
“It was very painful to me in particular and to all of us in my family. You can appreciate how thankful I am to you for doing this in her honour.
“I thank all the people of Edo State because I had a woman who made tremendous contributions to the achievements of my government.”
Obasanjo regarded his late spouse as a mighty woman whose efforts were critical to his administration’s success.
He declared that Stella was entitled to every possible recognition, whether during her lifetime or after her death.
Continuing, the ex-president advised individuals in positions of power to focus on growing their people’s talents and capacities, emphasising that a government’s success is intimately related to the growth of its human capital.
He stated that providing food and nutrition security is essential for human capital development.
He emphasised that without appropriate nourishment, people would be unable to fully benefit from the improvement of their infrastructure fully.
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“Whatever we do in our responsibility as chief executives, either at the national level, at the state level or even at the local government level, one thing that is very, very important is human capital development.
“I will take three essentials of human capital development. First is food and nutrition security. You can’t do much on an empty stomach.
“The second, of course, is health, and food and nutrition security has something to do with that. Health is wealth, they say. A healthy people is a wealthy nation because if you are dead, you can no longer be counted among those who are healthy.
“And I dare to say that health is everything. You must have health to be able to be alive and do other things. And the third, of course, is education,” Obasanjo added.
Former President Obasanjo praised Governor Obaseki’s efforts to rebuild and improve the hospital, which began as a mother-and-child hospital and has since been transformed into a specialist centre with cutting-edge equipment.
In her speech before the hospital’s inauguration, former First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan thanked Governor Obaseki and his administration for maintaining Stella Obasanjo’s legacy via the hospital’s rebuilding and modernisation.
She emphasised that the hospital’s growth would help not only Edo State residents but the entire nation.
Governor Obaseki stated that the decision to enhance the hospital to world-class status was prompted by the COVID-19 epidemic, during which it acted as a patient isolation centre.
He stated that the hospital has evolved into a critical 300-bed isolation institution with an extra 20-bed emergency isolation unit.
He further added that the hospital is now equipped with cutting-edge modern medical facilities capable of handling a broad spectrum of health conditions.
