Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has once again stated that he is unsure of his true age, noting that he relies on the ages of his surviving classmates to estimate it.
Obasanjo made the remark on Sunday during the Toyin Falola Interviews, a conversation series featuring Professor Toyin Falola, Bishop Matthew Kukah, and former presidential candidate Kingsley Moghalu.
He explained that although he has kept many of his early documents, his actual birthdate was never definitively recorded. According to him, six of his classmates from elementary and secondary school are still alive, and all of them are now over 90 years old.
“I don’t know my exact age,” he said. “But looking at those who went to school with me—like the Olubara of Ibara—I can make a guess. None of my surviving classmates is below 90, so that should tell you something.”
Obasanjo also spoke extensively about the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, saying it was created to preserve national memory and make historical materials accessible.
He revealed that the archive currently has more than three million digitised documents, with an additional three million awaiting processing. These include his school records, letters he wrote at different periods of his life—including one sent to former military ruler Sani Abacha after the death of his son—as well as personal items from his time in prison.
According to him, the library was established to help Nigerians learn from the past while documenting the present. “As a society, we don’t keep records well,” he said. “Institutional memory is one of the things we lack, and the library is my own contribution toward correcting that.”
