By Abubakar Yunusa
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday declared that no race in human history has suffered more dehumanisation, oppression and contempt than the black race.
Obasanjo spoke in Abuja at the ongoing International Memorial Lecture and Leadership Conference marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination of former Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed.
The event was organised by the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, where Obasanjo serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
In an emotion-laden address, the former President said Africans who fought for independence were deeply conscious of the historical injustice suffered by their race.
“We were part of the celebration of independence. And then we were mindful — and I think I will repeat that — mindful of the fact that we belong to a race that has been much despised,” he said.
“There is no race that has been despised more than the black race in humanity. There is no race that has been dehumanised more than the black race in human history. There is no race that has been oppressed like the black race in human history.”
Obasanjo recalled that Africans were enslaved, sold and treated as commodities during the transatlantic slave trade and the colonial era.
“We were enslaved. We were sold into slavery. We were colonised. We were regarded as food, as a commodity to be sold. We were mindful of this in our training,” he stated.
According to him, the generation that witnessed independence saw it as a historic opportunity to liberate Africa from centuries of subjugation and restore its dignity.
“As we were trained in the colonial days, we were mindful of what had been the lot of the black race in human history. So independence to us was something to really liberate us from the oppression of the past,” he said.
Reflecting on the early post-independence military era, Obasanjo noted that officers commissioned shortly before independence were sometimes labelled “colonial” by those who joined the army after 1960.
He said the overriding vision of his generation was an Africa “coming of age” — liberated, self-reliant and able to stand on its own in the global community.
“Our world view was the world view of Africa coming of age. Of Africa liberated. Of Africa that can stand on its own. And that was the Africa that we believed independence would give us,” he added.
Obasanjo also recalled General Murtala Muhammed’s insistence on national self-awareness and accountability, particularly regarding accurate population figures.
“I remember when, in 1970, Murtala said, ‘It is bad enough that we don’t know our actual number. But for us to try to count ourselves and not to agree on a number, it is a shame,’” he said.
The former President said he was present at the time and described the late Muhammed as a leader committed to national clarity and purpose.
The memorial lecture drew political leaders, diplomats, military officers and scholars who gathered to honour Muhammed’s legacy five decades after his assassination.
