Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said he remains uncertain about his exact age, revealing that his only reference point comes from the ages of his surviving primary school classmates, none of whom he believes is younger than 90.
Obasanjo made the disclosure on Sunday while speaking at the Toyin Falola Interview Series, themed “A Conversation with His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.” The session was moderated by Professor Toyin Falola, with Bishop Matthew Kukah of the Sokoto Catholic Diocese and former presidential candidate Professor Kingsley Moghalu also participating.
The former president said many of his contemporaries from early childhood are still alive and that their ages suggest he is likely above 90, though he still cannot definitively state his own birth year.
He said, “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.”
Obasanjo also used the platform to speak extensively about the purpose of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), describing it as an institution designed to preserve national history and strengthen Nigeria’s institutional memory.
He said, “We have digitalised over 3m materials. We still have about the same number, 3 million to digitalise.
“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.”
He noted that the archive includes his personal academic records, private letters, and historic correspondence, including a letter he wrote to the late General Sani Abacha after the death of his son and another sent to his wife during his imprisonment.
He said, “My school record cards 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.”
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