Obasanjo Shares Chilling Prison Experience with Abiola and Yar’Adua

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has made a startling revelation about his time in prison during the regime of late military dictator General Sani Abacha. Speaking at a public event, Obasanjo disclosed that the officer who arrested him, along with late Chief Moshood Abiola and Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, had ominously told them they would never leave prison alive.

“The man who arrested me, Abiola, and Yar’Adua said we would not come out of prison alive,” Obasanjo stated, reflecting on the dark period of Nigeria’s military dictatorship in the 1990s. “And he was almost right. Yar’Adua died in prison. Abiola died in prison. By divine grace, I survived.”

Obasanjo was imprisoned in 1995 after being accused of plotting a coup against the Abacha regime—a charge widely believed to be politically motivated. Yar’Adua, his close associate and fellow retired general, was arrested on similar grounds and died in detention in 1997 under suspicious circumstances. Chief Moshood Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the annulled 1993 presidential election, was arrested after declaring himself president and later died in custody in 1998 under controversial circumstances as well.

Obasanjo’s survival and subsequent rise to the presidency in 1999 marked a dramatic political turnaround. “I was number three on the list. By the time I got out, I was the only one left,” he said, adding that the experience left an indelible mark on him and reinforced his commitment to democratic governance.

The former president’s remarks serve as a sobering reminder of Nigeria’s turbulent history under military rule and the sacrifices made by many in the country’s fight for democracy.