Obasanjo: How I Was Asymptomatic To Covid-19 Infection At 84

By Abiola Olawale

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria on Friday, revealed that he once tested positive for Covid-19 without showing any known symptoms of the dreaded virus.

Obasanjo, who was speaking at a colloquium organized to celebrate his 84th birthday, at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, revealed that he had battled and survived Covid-19.

The former president said that he had no symptoms of the virus prior to when he tested positive.

He, however, noted that he had tested negative three days after he tested positive for Covid-19, adding that he has tested negative three times since then.

In his words, “It will surprise you that I was tested positive for Covid-19. I called them to come and test me, they came on a Saturday, I didn’t get the result until Wednesday and it came out positive, but I didn’t see any symptoms. They came three days after, said I am negative. That is three days after I tested positive. My daughter, Iyabo, is an epidemiologist and I called her to explain, she said maybe they tested me at the later stage of my being positive. I told her that I had no symptoms and she said it could be a fault result. But I was tested positive. Since then, I have tested three times negative; so, if you want to come near me, you can come near me.”

Recall that Obasanjo was born in a village of Ibogun-Olaogun in southwest Nigeria on March 5, 1937. He served as Nigeria’s head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its President from 1999 to 2007. Ideologically a Nigerian nationalist, he was a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from 1999 to 2015 and again from 2018 onward.

Since leaving power, he has become a renowned letter writer to his successors. The letters always send reverberating message and echoes across Nigeria’s socio-political landscape each time he writes them.