Former president Olusegun Obasanjo is celebrating his 80th birthday today, March 5.
Obasanjo has come a long way, making several friends and enemies through the years. He has several politicians seeking him out for advice concerning their ambition.
Many continue to wonder what makes Obasanjo thick and how he manages to get away with things other people would not even dare to try.
As he clocks 80 today, ZENITHBLOG.com brings you some of his most memorable quotes.
1. On Buhari’s governance
Whatever anybody says, President Buhari has not disappointed me from what I know of him. I also used to think that he is not strong in the area of foreign affairs, but I have realised that he has improved very well. He has actually done his best in the areas where we know him to be strong.
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2. On Nigeria’s achievement
It is the height of ingratitude for people to say Nigeria has not achieved anything or much as a nation.
3. About him
If you don’t know anything about me at all, go to the village where I was born. I was born by parents that were illiterate. There was no road to the village then. One could not boast of even being known in the next village.
4. On the existence of Nigeria
This is why I continue to say that if there is nothing we have got right since 56 years of our existence, then there is no need for our existence as Nigeria.
5. Nigeria’s problem is not the constitution
The problem of Nigeria is not the constitution. There is no constitution that is perfect in as much as it is written by human beings.
6. He does not know his date of birth
I’m not as lucky as some of my peers who know the dates of their birth. What matters to me is that I have chosen a date. If I don’t even know the exact date of my birth, at least I know my age group.
7. PDP is dead
May the fortune of Nigeria never sink like that of the PDP.
8. Fool me once, shame on you
If you deceive me once shame on you because I have trusted you once and you have deceived me, if you deceive me twice shame on me because I have learnt my lessons and you have deceive me and if you deceive me for the third time shame on me because am a compound fool.
READ ALSO: 7 times Obasanjo showed Nigerians that age is just a number
9. A swipe at Fani-Kayode
Femi Fani-Kayode is my boy. Provide him food, he will eat and then sing for you. He’s a smart boy.
10. Fighting corruption takes time
Fighting corruption is not a one night affair. Of course there are deep-rooted interests, and if you are going to deal with it, you have to deal with it ruthlessly and consistently. If you deal with it today and you then turn a blind eye tomorrow, it will come back with vengeance.
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11. Even Jesus Christ cannot conduct a free and fair election in Nigeria
Memorable quotes by Obasanjo
With all due respect, if Jesus Christ could come to the world and be the chairman of INEC, any election he would conduct will be disputed.
12. When he boasted about remaining in the PDP
I have never left PDP and I will never leave PDP. I rose to become the president of Nigeria on the platform of PDP and for that reason alone, I will remain a card-carrying and ward-active member of PDP for as long as I have to be a political party member.
13. And then, he tore his party card dramatically
I’d rather tear the PDP membership card than sit down and let Jonathan use PDP and corruption to tear my beloved country apart.
14. On the Boko Haram insurgency as excuse for the postponement of 2015 general elections
Boko Haram has been with us since 2009 and now if we said what we have not been able to achieve since 2009 would be achieved in six weeks, all I would say is that God is a God of miracle. God can do anything.
15. Members of the National Assembly are corrupt
Once you are a member, you are co-opted and your mouth is stuffed with rottenness and corruption that you cannot opt out as you go home with not less than N15m a month for a senator and N10m a month for a member of the House of Representatives. The National Assembly is a den of corruption by a gang of unarmed robbers.
16. Nigerian lawmakers are lawbreakers
Our lawmakers are lawbreakers. They are the accused, the prosecutor, the defenders and the judge in their own case. Most of them conduct themselves and believe that they are not answerable to anybody. They are blatant in their misbehaviour, cavalier in their misconduct and arrogant in the misuse of parliamentary immunity as a shield against reprisals for their irresponsible acts of malfeasance and/or outright banditry.
17. God blessed Nigeria
I believe God knew what he was doing when he put oil under our ground. It should be a means to an end.
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