I still don’t know my exact age – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has again acknowledged that he does not know his exact age.

Speaking on Sunday, Dec. 7, during the Toyin Falola Interviews themed “A Conversation with His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,” he explained that he can only estimate his age based on his primary school classmates, six of whom are still alive, all now older than 90.

The interview panel included Professor Toyin Falola, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Matthew Kukah, and former presidential candidate Professor Kingsley Moghalu.

Obasanjo noted that one of the reasons he established the presidential library was to preserve historical records and institutional memory.

He revealed that over three million materials have already been digitised, with an equal number still awaiting digitisation.

“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,” the former President of Nigeria said.

According to him, the library holds documents ranging from his primary and secondary school records to personal letters, including one he wrote to General Abacha after his son died in an accident, and another to his wife during his time in prison.

Despite this extensive documentation, he maintained that he still does not know his actual birth age, though his surviving classmates may hold clues.

He added …

“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.”