Obasanjo has broadened Africa’s democracy — Mandela

FORMER South African president, Nelson Mandela has said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo played a prominent role in actualising the survival of democracy not only in Africa, but also the world at large.
Mandela described Obasanjo’s outstanding leadership qualities as epochal, which he added, assisted him to restore democracy in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan.
The ex-South African leader made his stand known in the foreword he wrote in a two-volume book entitled Olusegun Obasanjo: The Presidential Legacy, 1999-2007 co-edited by Professor Oladipupo Akinkugbe and Ahmed Joda.
The book was made available to newsmen at a press conference addressed by the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Centre for Human Security with the UNESCO Institute for African Culture and International Understanding in Abeokuta on Friday.
According to Mandela, “in the last four decades, President Obasanjo has demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities and courage on a scale I believe is epochal and destined to prove historic for all Africans.
“He has been at the forefront of championing the cause of democracy in his own nation, on the continent of Africa and, indeed, at the global level.
“Obasanjo’s initiatives are myriad and we can only highlight here his total readiness to commit peacekeeping forces independently or as part of African Union missions to help restore or establish democracies in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire and more recently in confronting genocide in the Sudan”