Ex President Olusegun Obasanjo's mode of relaxation has been exposed after some correspondents of the Premium Times visited his home in Ogun state.
Obasanjo playing his favourite "Ayo" game
Correspondents of the Premium Times had their scheduled interview with former president Olusegun Obasanjo delayed for hours after he was engaged in the ancient "Ayo" game at his Ogun state residence.
According to Yorupedia, Ayo is a Yoruba game played in a carved wooden box, containing twelve holes (six holes on each side), and forty-eight Ayo seeds (four seeds in each hole).Two individuals take turn to play this game, which runs anti clockwise.
But the tough game that Friday afternoon between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his opponent, a Chief Akanle, held in the right hand corner of Mr. Obasanjo’s living room in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
“Aarrgghhh!!!” Mr. Obasanjo barked, as he sized up the feat, his eyes lighting up behind his spectacles. His opponent, an equally elderly figure, stared hard on the board, and then scooped up his seeds.
The correspondents scheduled a 2 p.m. interview with the former president at his hilltop mansion in Abeokuta. He returned home at exactly 2 p.m from Tanzania but dived straight into an Ayo game with Chief Akanle in his modest living room. According to the correspondent, they waited patiently with their eyes on the clock.
It kept on and on. The former President is a master at this game. He kept winning and winning. Mr. Fasawe and some visitors and aides of the former president cheered from the sidelines. About half an hour later, the former president lifted his face from the board, towards the direction of Musikilu Mojeed, the Managing Editor at PREMIUM TIMES, and spoke in Yoruba.“Mojeed, I’m coming o. I just want to defeat this my younger brother three more times only.”
The minutes turned to about an hour as journalists continued to wait for the former president’s treble. The silence that descended on the room was punctured by Chief Akanle, immediately after his hand dropped his last seed in a hole.
“Oooooohhhh!!” He screamed. He has lost again.
It was almost 3:30 p.m. when Mr. Obasanjo rose, abruptly, from the Ayo game and marched into an inner room.
The correspondents moved in. The inner room is a small enclosure, with a pile of books. One of the books, The Nigerian Civil Service of the Future by Tunji Olaopa, and magazines heaped on a centre table.
The interview began with a casual chat about the former president’s book, My Watch, “to set the records straight” and his letters to the immediate past president on how to tackle Boko Haram.
Mr. Obasanjo acknowledged their greetings with a nod of his head, his attention fixed on the wooden board before him. One of his aides said he also plays squash to keep his physical fitness.
When the correspondents hinted about a photo shoot with him after the interview, Mr. Obasanjo said, in the middle of an Ayo move, that it was a good idea. The correspondents waited another hour for the shoot.
He never rose from the game. When we tried to press him to do so, Chief Akanle screamed at us, asking us to let the former President enjoy his game.
Mr. Obasanjo remained quiet, engrossed in the game, while the correspondents waited. He kept saying they should wait. The waiting dragged on, just like the Ayo game. He never rose, and he didn’t notice when the three of them sneaked out of his living room and out of his gate, dissolving into Abeokuta town.