Nigeria Content Online

Former president,
Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday said he knew the late military ruler, Sani
Abacha, would not live to witness his release from prison, just as he
added that he was optimistic that he would regain his freedom.

Mr. Obasanjo spoke
at the dedication service of Chapel of Christ The Glorious King,
Abeokuta, which he built to thank God for sparing his life. He recalled
that the bitter experiences as a prisoner turned him to a preacher in
the four walls of prison.

Mr. Obasanjo and
some other retired military officers and civilians were jailed in 1995
by the military government of Sani Abacha, after he was found guilty by
a military tribunal of plotting to overthrow Mr. Abacha’s
administration, and were released after Mr. Abacha’s death in 1998.

“Before I left
prison, I said if I get out of prison, I would divide my time into
four. I would buy a Landrover and trailer and use it for evangelism,”
he said.

Unwilling candidate

The former
president, who is the chief promoter of the church, said that was part
of how he thought he would live the rest of his life outside the
prisons. He, however, said this did not work out as, when he came out
of jail, pressure mounted on him to join the race to be president of
Nigeria.

“Initially, those
calling me to contest I cursed. Primate Sunday Mbang also joined me to
curse them, but, as time went on, I left the matter in the hand of God,
and God eventually had His way.”

Mr. Obasanjo, who
spent three years behind bars, recalled that while in Yola prison, he
became an unordained pastor and converted many, including a convicted
armed robber whose name was Baba Alli.

He said he assured
Mr. Alli, then the leader of an armed robbery gang called Arewa Boys,
that he would send him to Bible College, which he did after regaining
freedom. He said as at today, the ex-convict robber is now an ordained
pastor in Abuja.

Dignitaries at the dedication ceremony included Ayo Oritsejafor;
Sunday Mbang; Ola Makinde; Samson Ayorinde; Tunji Olurin; Adebayo
Alao-Akala; Segun Agagu; Ojo Madueke; Christopher Kolade; Ayoka
Adebayo, among others.