L-R Obasanjo and Buhari
Like Obasanjo, Buhari doesn’t know his real age
President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has said he is not sure about his date of birth. It is the same with Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
When Nigeria’s Minister for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) paid Buhari a Christmas visit yesterday, the President made some confusing and controversial statement about his real age: “I am thinking I am 75. I thought I was 74 but I was told I am 75.
At Obasanjo’s 80th birthday in March, he confessed that he did not know his true age.
Obasanjo said his illiterate mother only told him that he was born on an Ifo market day.
However, the two leaders who had held important public positions before they became presidents at different times submitted or attested to a birthday certificate, which, according to their testimonies now, are all false.
He said the quest to know his actual date of birth took him to an astrologer in India, and that even though he could not achieve his aim, the man told him that he would live long.
“I do not know the date of my birth, when I started school, we were asked to give our date of birth. I used to ask my mother, and she would say ‘You were born on Ifo Market Day’,” he said.
“All my mother, an illiterate woman, could remember was that it was an Ifo Market Day and before the people who went to the market returned, she had fallen into labour and I was delivered.”
Obasanjo said since he could not tell his age, he decided to choose a date after considering the age of his peers.
“I’ decided to choose a date. At least if I don’t the exact date of my birth, I know my age group,” he said.