Coronavirus affected my 83rd Birthday plans – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo who turned 83 yesterday said a lecture programme scheduled for his birthday ceremony was cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Speaking in Abeokuta, Ogun State, at a symposium to mark his 83rd birthday, Obasanjo said: “When we were thinking of this celebration, two programmes came to mind. One was to see what Asian countries have done to make their continent become what they’ve become.
“We would’ve spent Tuesday and Wednesday to really consider how the Asians have risen to greatness and what lessons we could learn from them. But because of coronavirus, that programme was shelved. Some of them were not able to make it.”
“Now, if we do something not too far (from Singapore’s style) away but radical enough to meet our need and we succeed, they’ll grudgingly accept us. But if we do and fail, we’ll be on our own. What we must realise is that the world will not wait for us. They’ll not want us to succeed because if we succeed, we’ve taken something away,” he said.