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Obasanjo, Abiodun: He was bold, courageous

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, have expressed grief over the death of South African anti-apartheid hero and black nations’ icon, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The late anti-apartheid scion, pro-democracy guru and human rights crusader died earlier yesterday at age 90. Obasanjo in a condolence letter to the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, yesterday, recalled the role played by Tutu in getting Nigeria’s debt cancelled, declaring that his death was a personal loss to him.

The former President stated that: “Over the years, Reverend Tutu had shown focused, credible, bold, sensitive and purposeful leadership not just to members of the Anglican Church but to all Christians.” Obasanjo in the letter, which was made available to journalists by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, added that “Tutu had been part of building and strengthening the Anglican Church, and its eminent place in the Church system in South Africa today is not unrelated to his selfless service and leadership.”

On the country’s debt cancellation role, Obasanjo said he acknowledged late Tutu’s “uncommon solidarity and the deep passion with which he had argued Nigeria’s case for full debt cancellation by the contents of his letter to Mr. Gordon Brown, the then United Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, during my administration as the President of Nigeria.

“This heroic advocacy effort of his with respect to Nigeria’s indebtedness to the Paris Club on behalf of Nigeria was very much in his character.” On his part, Abiodun in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, said he was shocked by the death of the anti apartheid hero who stood stoutly against the imperialism and segregation. He further eulogised him for being a loud voice against suppression of black South Africans throughout the apartheid era in his country.

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