Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says Nigeria’s influence in the world, particularly Africa, is dwindling.
The elder statesman stated this in Abuja on Thursday during the launch of a book on him by Musikilu Mojeed titled "The Letterman.
Inside the "secret" Letters of former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo," x-rays the role of letter writing in leadership, governance, and politics.
The book with 492-pages focuses on the former president and his fondness for letters to address issues.
Mr Obasanjo was military head of state and as democratically elected president.
Obasanjo was away in Ethiopia but made a surprise appearance at the event.
He recalled how he used letters in several diplomatic interventions across the world, including his intervention in the then apartheid South Africa.
He said Nigeria ceded leadership to other countries outside the continent. He cited the example of the intervention of Qatar in the composition of the government in Chad, Nigeria’s neighbour, after the death of President Idris Deby.
He also recounted how Nigeria resolved the crisis between Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, during the fight against the Ian Smith white government in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
"Letter writing is also an art. You must be very careful in the choice of your words. It depends on what you want to put into it. Your letter must be such that it is relevant and purposeful.
"Almost all of the letters stand the test of time. Whether it is the letter on apartheid in South Africa or Ian Smith in Rhodesia. Or between (Joshua) Nkomo and (Robert) Mugabe. These letters stand the test of time.
"Then when I read some of the letters in the book as put by Musikilu, I said to myself—some of you have said what gives me courage? I then look at this book, if you had asked me to give a title, and not the title ‘Letterman’, I would have titled it “Audacity of an optimist."
"The thing again about a letter is that it goes beyond you. There is nothing personal to me about the letters—interest of the community, the society, the organisation that I belong to, the military, warfront—how should the war be fought so that we minimize casualty, so that we can deal with it and finish it off.
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