Obasanjo: I Don't Know My True Age, My Mother Told Me I was Born on a Market Day

While speaking at the 2017 International Youth Variety Day and Public Presentation of Olusegun Obasanjo’s Books for Children, on Thursday former President Olusegun Obasanjo, admitted he did not know his true age, adding that his late mother merely told him she gave birth to him on a market day.

Obasanjo who spoke at the event as part of programmes for his 80th birthday organised by the Centre for Human Security, with the theme “Presidential Libraries Will Reduce Leadership Deficit in Africa”, said while growing up, he had the challenge of knowing his real date of birth, because his parents were illiterates.

According to Premium Times, the former president who made the disclosure at theater hall of the Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, said;

“At early stage in my life, I had the challenge of knowing my date of birth, and my peers always asked, while in return I persisted in asking my mother, who was an illiterate and had no records,” he said.

The former president added that when he continued to pressure his mother, the information he was given by his mother was that she gave birth to him on an Ifo village market day.

“When I continued to put pressure on my mother, she told me that she was preparing to go to market on the said day, and went into labour, and before others could return from the market, she had given birth to me,” Obasanjo said.

The former leader said he arrived at his current age when he considered the ages of some of his peers at the time.

“I’m not as lucky as some of my peers who know the dates of their birth. What matters to me is that I have chosen a date. If I don’t even know the exact date of my birth, at least I know my age group,” he emphasised.