Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria made a shocking confession recently: “My saddest day was when I sat in front of a military panel set up by late former Head of State, Sani Abacha to try me over a phantom coup, and sentenced to death and later commuted to 30 years imprisonment.”

“God has always been giving me immense favour beyond my own expectations and what I deserve from Him. And I used to tell people that God has been partial to me from childhood. Following the pressure from international community leaders which included former American president, Jimmy Carter, the Abacha regime reduced my sentence to 15 years. If Gen. Abacha had lived, I would have spent a minimum of 10 years in prison.”

“The death of Gen. Abacha saw me spend only three years in prison, as part of the partiality of God to me, I came out from prisons to meet an agitation for me to contest for president. I was born in a village and anybody born in that village would have concluded that the popularity of those born there would not go beyond the next village. My parents were complete illiterates.”

“There would always be trouble and problems in life, but that if one is prayerful and close to God, they would overcome. I had strayed into the army, from which I retired as a general and head of state on October 1, 1979. I had experienced tribulations in my life but that God has been on my side throughout.”