Obasanjo Wins The Nigerian Golden Book African Hero Award

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (GCFR) born on the 5th of March 1937, is one great African leaders with global acknowledgement.

Obasanjo's first political appointment was as federal commissioner for Works and Housing in January 1975. He held that office for seven months before the government was toppled in a palace coup. He then became the number two man under the new Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed, who initiated a programme for a return to democracy. Six months later General Muhammed was assassinated in another coup attempt. When the dust settled, Obasanjo was elevated to the top job.

During his three years as Head of State, Obasanjo worked hard and apparently sincerely to create a Nigeria of proud and industrious people. He committed Nigeria fully to the anti-apartheid crusade, giving diplomatic, political and military support to the freedom movements in southern Africa. He involved university academics in the formulation and execution of foreign policy.

At home Obasanjo introduced a series of economic austerity measures, at the same time giving priority to education and health. He discouraged the culture of ethnic favouritism and promoted high work ethics. It was Obasanjo, too, who pushed for the transfer of the nation's capital from the congested city of Lagos to Abuja, and got most of the planning work completed before he left office. Many Nigerians still regard his brief interregnum as a period of exemplary good governance.

Certainly Obasanjo crowned his achievements in office with a single-minded pursuit of the transition back to civilian government. This transition was a difficult and challenging process. Many Nigerians thought that the death of General Muhammed would require a postponement of the handover date. To everyone's amazement and delight, Obasanjo stuck to the original programme, handing over to an elected government on schedule on October 1, 1979. This engraved the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the global golden book of time.

After his retirement, Obasanjo set up business as a commercial farmer with the same energy and single-mindedness he had displayed in office. His Obasanjo Farms project was one of the biggest and most diversified in Nigeria. Side by side with his farming business, he took an active interest in international affairs. He established the African Leadership Forum - through which he organised international workshops on African problems. He was a member of several international, UN, Commonwealth and other agencies. He contested, unsuccessfully, for election as secretary-general of the UN.

Obasanjo himself was one of the most prominent victims of the Abacha regime. Only last June he was languishing in prison, having been convicted of being privy to a coup plot allegedly masterminded by a group of military officers. Obasanjo was condemned to death by a military tribunal. The international outcry against the trial persuaded Abacha to commute the sentence to 15 years' imprisonment. Obasanjo had served three years of the sentence when Abacha died suddenly and mysteriously on June 8 last year. Abacha's successor and the godfather of Nigeria's latest stab at transition to civilian rule, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, promptly released Obasanjo and granted him a state pardon. The stage was thus set for his re-entry into politics.

For eight years as a civilian president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo's uncommon profile cannot be overlooked. He is the winner of the Nigerian Golden Book African Hero Award.