Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday reiterated that he had not found the record of his birthday.
He said he would make it known “sooner or later”.
The former president spoke at his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during his 77th birthday reception. He was expressing gratitude to those who attended the ceremony.
“There are some people, including me, who do not know their exact birthday.
“My mother only told me that I was born on Ifo market day.
“According to her, in our village, she had prepared to go to Ifo market and Ifo market is every five days.
“She said as she was preparing, she fell into labour and before those who went to Ifo market returned, I was born.
“Don’t ask me what month or what year.
“Whether I know the exact date or not, I think God has made my path to be glorious,” he said.
“There are those of us, like me, who have no real record of birth. I want to thank God, once again, for what He has done in my life. Whether I know the exact date of my birth or not, I think God has made my birth glorious.
“I want to thank the president of this country because early this morning when I had finished my game of squash and I was preparing, a message came from President Goodluck Jonathan congratulating me on this day of my official birthday.”
Obasanjo said that as a human being, he had shortcomings and had failed God on several occasions.
The former president, however, said that he was grateful that God never counted his faults against him.
“I have disappointed God several times, but God has never taken my faults against me.
“If he had counted my faults against me, I will have been consumed.
“So what has been sustaining me is the grace, mercy and kindness of God,” he said.
He said: “On occasions like this, one must also thank those ones that have influenced one’s life in one way or the other. Because I just didn’t get and said I am 77 and I have achieved whatever I have been able to achieve.
“Some people, beginning with my parents and the communities where I grew, my teachers and those who have impacted on my life one way or the other, too many to mention. I am grateful to God for what they have been able to do in my life.
“I have been very lucky for many things. On one occasion, I said God had never disappointed me and a journalist who thinks that he knows too much asked if I had disappointed God. I said ‘of course’. As long as I am living in flesh and blood, I am liable to be unworthy in what I have striven to meet the standard of what God expects of me.
“God has never taken my shortcomings, my failures and all that: He hasn’t counted me because if he had, I would have been consumed. So, God has really sustained me with His grace, mercy, goodness and compassion. Not because of my goodness, but God has been gracious.”
Obasanjo spoke shortly after the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Oba Adegboyega Dosunmu, said the former president knew his correct birth date but has resorted to telling people that he was “born in Ibogun a day before Ifo market day”.
Oba Dosunmu described Obasanjo as his “close friend” and “Balogun Owu”. He noted that he (Olowu) and a few of the former president’s friends, knew his exact birthday.
Although the monarch did not reveal the date, he advised Nigerians to pay more attention to an aspect of Obasanjo’s life that is “quite obvious”, yet remains unknown to many.
He said the former President is humane, sympathetic and always ready to help people in need, recalling that Obasanjo was of immense help to him when he built his first house in Lagos many years ago.
Oba Dosunmu went on: “Obasanjo is sympathetic to all people; even to animals. He has genuine love for people; he does not like to see people suffer; he doesn’t like people who speak ill of Nigeria and this dates back to his secondary school days.”
Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Prof. Akin Mabogunje, Ambassador Christopher Kolade, Prof. Okebukola and associates from Israel and Kenya, among others, attended the ceremony. (0)
"I haven"t found the record of my birthday" Obasanjo
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