Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Wednesday that he had no real record of his birthday.

 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Wednesday that he had no real record of his birthday. Obasanjo disclosed this in Abeokuta while expressing gratitude to those who attended his 77th birthday ceremony.

“There are some people including me who do not know their exact birthday. “My mother only told me that I was born on Ifo market day. “According to her, in our village, she had prepared to go to Ifo market and Ifo market is every five days. “She said as she was preparing, she fell into labour and before those who went to Ifo market returned, I was born. “Don’t ask me what month or what year.

“Whether I know the exact date or not, I think God has made my path to be glorious,” he said.
He expressed gratitude to President Goodluck Jonathan for sending a congratulatory message to him on the occasion of his “ official birthday.”

Obasanjo said that as a human being, he had shortcomings and had failed God on several occasions.

The former president, however, said that he was grateful that God never counted his faults against him. “I have disappointed God several times but God had never taken my faults against me.

“If he had counted my faults against me, I will have been consumed. “So what has been sustaining me is the grace, mercy and kindness of God,” he said. Obasanjo also said he was full of gratitude to those who had contributed “positively and negatively” to his life. He particularly appreciated his parents, his community and those who had worked closely with him in the course of his life.

Some of the dignitaries who attended the ceremony extolled the virtues of the elder statesman, describing him as a detribalised and humane advocate of Nigeria’s unity. (NAN)