•Obasanjo and late Jimmy Carter
More tributes are still pouring in for former United States President, Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29, 2024.
The latest is coming from Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo who was military Head of State in 1978 when Carter first visited Nigeria.
He spoke exclusively to our correspondent at his home in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, reports Channels TV.
•Late President Jimmy Carter of the U.S. and former Nigerian Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo in photo taken on October 11,1977, at the Oval Office; during General Obasanjo’s State Visit to the White House. Photo courtesy Dr Timiebi Koripamo
Obasanjo said Carter contributed to the reason he is alive to date.
While reflecting on his friendship and fond memories shared with the late US president, Obasanjo said Nigeria and the African continent have lost a friend while the international community has lost an advocate for fairness and justice.
He said Carter made a tremendous contribution to Nigeria-US relations while he was President of the United States (POTUS).
Obasanjo was Nigeria’s military head of state from February 1976 to October 1979 and later democratically elected President between May 1999 and May 2007.
Carter served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. He spent his years after the White House advocating for global democracy, fighting neglected public health scourges and teaching Sunday school.
Born in rural Plains, Georgia, he died in the same house he and his wife — who he was married to for 77 years — bought in 1961.
And his modest lifestyle served as an inspiration to many Americans — even if other presidents didn’t join in themselves.
To name a few: allegations of John F. Kennedy’s extramarital trysts, Bill Clinton’s affair with a White House intern, and Donald Trump’s well-documented sex scandals have “lowered all such standards in American politics,” said Barbara Perry, a professor specialising in the history of US presidents.
“Americans have become immune to ethical standards in political life.”
Even those who have stayed clean from personal scandal, such as Barack Obama or George W. Bush, have little in common with the modest lifestyle and outspoken advocacy of Carter’s post-presidency.
