As military head of state and civilian president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was a target of snide remarks and subject of humorous cartoons. His trademark moustache, pot belly, facial marks and others were the features. Obasanjo has told Nigerians that he enjoyed (and still does) them all!
In his words: “If you visit the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, you will find thousands of archived newspaper, comics and columns meant to spite and insult my person even as a sitting President. No individual or group of people was ever queried or jailed or repressed for expressing this freedom. Rather, I encouraged them because I derived fun and pleasure from the humour as I know who I am and nobody needs to tell me who and what I am not.”
Obasanjo said this yesterday while presenting his keynote address at the first international conference of the African Studies Association of Africa, ASAA, entitled, “African Studies in the Twenty-First Century, Past, Present and Future” which held at the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan.
“The right to free speech, the right to express a different view point, the right to draw personal conclusions based on self-instituted research and to query certain cultural practices and beliefs are part of the huge liberty that the continent of Africa now boasts of,” Obasanjo said.
Read the full story here: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/10/as-president-insults-were-pleasant-to-me-obasanjo/