GENERAL Olusegun Obasanjo, the first leader to preside over the   Nigerian government both as a soldier and a civilian politician, will, next Sunday, August 6, tell Nigerians what influence his Christian experience has had on his military career and his journey through  in the country’s  political terrain.

The former President will do this at the Archbishop Vining Memorial Church, Ikeja, Lagos.

The church said in a statement:  ‘’On that day, he will mount the podium at Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral on the invitation of the Torchbearers’ Society of that church, to deliver a lecture on: “God in my life”

Obasanjo

‘’To receive him on his arrival at the AVMCC at 4 pm, will be the Rt. Rev. Dr. James O. Odedeji, Bishop of the Diocese of Lagos West, and the Venerable Adegoke Agara, the Dean of A VMCC.   Gen. Obasanjo, who marked his 80th birthday four months ago, hails from Ibogun- Olaogun in Ogun State.

‘’Olusegun Matthew Aremu Okikiola Obasanjo began his primary education at St. David’s Ebenezer Primary School, Abeokuta, in 1948 and proceeded to the Baptist Boys’ High School, Abeokuta, in 1952. Six years later, he graduated with the West African Examinations Council’s Secondary School Certificate.

‘’Obasanjo joined the Nigerian Army in 1958 and was commissioned in the following year. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1960. Shortly after Nigeria’s independence in 1960, he was sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo on a United Nations’ peace-keeping force assignment.

‘’In 1963, Obasanjo was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Army after which he served at the Area Command in Kaduna as the Chief of Army Engineers. Two years later, he was sent to the Indian Army Engineering School at Kirkee, India, after a promotion to the rank of Major.

‘’In 1965, he attended the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, India, and was then promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1967 and appointed Commander, Second Area Command of the Nigerian Army. Subsequently, he was Commander, Ibadan Garrison, between 1967 and 1969.

‘’Obasanjo’s promotion to Colonel came in 1969 when he was appointed as General Officer Commanding, 3rd Infantry Division, Nigerian Army, between 1969 and 1970. He was later appointed the Commander, Third Marine Commando Division, -South-Eastern State, during the Nigerian/Biafran civil war.

‘’In that position, he succeeded Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle, popularly called the “Black Scorpion” (now of blessed memory).   In 1970, he had the honour of receiving the instrument of surrender from his brothers on the other side of the war front, thus bringing the Nigerian civil war to an end.

‘’After serving both as Commander of the Nigerian Army Engineering Corps and as Federal Commissioner of Works and Housing between 1970 and 1975, on February 13, 1976, he was targeted for assassination in the aborted Col Dimka insurrection. He escaped, but his friend and Commander-in-Chief, Gen. Murtala Mohammed, was killed.

‘’As Head of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (1976-1979) he signalled his preparedness to return Nigeria to democracy by adopting the Second Republic Constitution and modelling it after the Constitution of the United States of America and presided over the voluntary transition to civil democratic rule in October 1979.

‘’Twenty years later, Chief Obasanjo was elected Nigerian President  and was re-elected in 2003 on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

‘’A prolific writer, Chief Obasanjo has churned out about 20 books, among them, ‘My Command’ and ‘Not My Will’.

‘’Although a recipient of no fewer than a dozen honorary doctorate degrees from renowned universities in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom and Nigeria, Chief Obasanjo stunned his admirers in 2010, when he registered as a student of theology with the National Open University of Nigeria, shortly after the inauguration of that university.

‘’He is said to be currently pursuing a Ph.D research programme in that university.”