Indeed, the former Nigerian president was a
guest at the St Andrew home of Ambassador
Carlton Masters, Jamaica’s first representative to
the African Union, who described Obasanjo as
“my brother”.
Naturally, the reception hosted by Masters would
not have been the same had the guest list not
included his good friend and former Jamaican
Prime Minister PJ Patterson, who has known
Obasanjo for many years.
The retired Nigerian army general was also
pleased to see Opposition Leader Portia Simpson
Miller, former Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips,
Jamaica Olympic Association President Mike
Fennell, former Cabinet ministers Anthony Hylton
and Arnold Bertram, and Verene Shepherd,
professor of social history at the University of the
West Indies, Mona campus.
Obasanjo was in the island for just a few days on
what Ambassador Masters described as “a friendly
personal visit”. Therefore, the late evening
reception was devoid of business. In fact, the
closest he came to engaging in such talk was in
his informal remarks after being officially
welcomed by Patterson.
The Jamaica Observer, though, got him to speak
a bit about international politics, especially
current events in Africa, after the newspaper
asked him for an update on his life since his
retirement in 2007.
“Jokingly I always say that I’m unemployed and
unemployable,“ he responded with a soft chuckle.
“I don’t hold any political office; I don’t even
belong to any political party now. I think I can call
myself an elder statesman in Nigeria because the
position that I have, of not belonging to any
political party or not holding any Government or
political office, allows me to be able to be advisor
to all and sundry and to make informed
comments on situations in the country and
indeed in Africa,” he added.
“I do occasionally get invited, either by the
African Union, by the Commonwealth or by
ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African
States) to be involved in election observation, or
to investigate some situations in Africa. I did that
in the case of South Sudan after the unfortunate
violence and destructive actions in 2013,” he
said.
His reference was to the flare-up of violence in
December 2013 sparked by political divisions
between President Salva Kiir and former Vice-
President Riek Machar that exacerbated deeply
rooted ethnic tensions.
“Then I was asked to observe elections in
Zimbabwe [and] Ghana. I’ve in fact now been
asked to observe elections in Gambia, which are
coming up towards the end of November. That’s
the sort of thing I do, in addition to running my
farm,” Obasanjo explained.
Farming has actually proven successful for
Obasanjo, who had to be pressed a bit to tell the
Observer that he had seven farms – four
producing poultry, and three providing maze and
cassava.
The farms, he said, employ approximately 7,000
people. Information posted in 2014 about the
business called Obasanjo Farms, states that it was
opened in October 1979 and earns up to N34
million (approx US$107,851) daily.
Asked whether his produce are for export,
Obasanjo no.
“They are purely for the domestic market,” he
said, adding that the population of Lagos, said to
be Nigeria’s largest city, is more than 20 million.
“Whatever we produce, Lagos is a good market,”
Obasanjo said.