Former president Olusegun
Obasanjo has recounted how he “conspired” with Ahmadu Ali, a former chairman of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to sack US officials from the American
embassy in the 1970s.
Obasanjo made this known while
speaking on Thursday at the launch of Ali’s biography in Abuja.
He said Ali had been appointed
head of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and he needed an office which
was being occupied by the embassy.
“It was something we had
complained and protested against and we expected the Americans to vacate and be
given an alternative office but they wouldn’t leave,” he recounted.
“So, Ahmadu Ali and I conspired
together that we would move the Americans out of that office.
“Of course, I belonged to the
corps of engineers I had military men under my command, Amadu had none under
his command so I had to be used to perform the task. And I made it a military
operation.
“By 4am soldiers had surrounded
the office and when the Americans were coming to work in the morning, they were
not allowed to go in and of course, I didn’t realise the diplomatic
implication. They moved out and Amadu Ali had an office.”
He said the issue escalated when
the Americans “violently protested” and reported him to Yakubu Gowon, then
military president.
“So, when I spoke with General
Gowon this morning about the incident, he asked ‘so, Ahmadu Ali was part of
it?’ and I said, “Ahmadu Ali was the cause of it,” he added.
Gowon was also present at the
launch of the biography titled ‘The Many Colours of a Rainbow’.
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