Obasanjo Reflects on Yola Prison Days, Discloses Rejection of AC Gift from Late Emir

A former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that his incarceration at the Yola maximum prison, where he spent over three years, impacted his administration positively while he was the president.

Speaking in Yola on Wednesday during the commissioning of the Jimeta grade interchange, the first in northern Nigeria, Obasanjo disclosed that his life in prison turned out to be a blessing, especially after he became the president of Nigeria.

The former president who lauded Governor Ahmadu Fintri’s performance in the five years of his administration, said that Nigeria will over come its economic woes if half of the governors can emulate the Adamawa State Governor’s style of administration.

“This project is the first of its kind in this part of the country. I never thought there will ever be this kind of giant and beautiful project in Yola during my life time, but you made it happe during my time and I know you will do more because the sky is your limit,” Obasanjo hailed Fintiri.

On urban renewal, he urged the governor to extend his infrastructural development programme to rural areas. This, he pointed out will boost food production, create jobs, and reduce insecurity in the state.

Obasanjo, while recalling his prison days in Yola, said, “When I was here, the now late Lamido took me as his child. He sent someone to me that he wanted to send an air conditioner to me and I said your eminent, the man that put me here do not want me to have the pleasure of an air conditioner, so if you give me an air conditioner, the authority may remove it, so let me continue with the fan in my prison room.”

In his welcome speech, Fintiri who commended the former president for honouring his invitation to commission the project, said, “skeptics went wild with their usual doubts that It can not be done.

“Someone had the guts to tell me that I was digging a pit at the center of the city without the knowledge of how I am going to fill it. To the glory of God, today, it is not only done but done excellently and in record time,” he stated.

The governor pointed out that the significance of the project in the heart of the city can not be overemphasised.

He stressed that when it became evident that the project was coming into fruition, pessimists changed their campaign of calumny to “it is not a priority now, because the traffic situation in Yola is not yet as overbearing as to warrant the necessity for an overhead bridge,” he said ruefully.

The governor insisted that his administration would continue to execute people-oriented projects as payback to Adamawa residents for considering him worthy to pilot the affairs of the state.