Former President Obasanjo pays courtesy call

President Cyril Ramaphosa received former President Olusegun Obasanjo of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for a courtesy call today, Thursday 26 September 2019.

After a successful launch of the book, “Democracy Works: Rewiring Politics to Africa's Advantage”, President Obasanjo, who is a co-author of the book, presented a copy to President Ramaphosa today.

The book is authored by Greg Mills of the Brenthurst Foundation in South Africa; President Obasanjo; Jeffrey Herbst, a celebrated Africanist, and Tendai Biti, former Finance Minister of Zimbabwe.

President Ramaphosa thanked the former President for working hard and still having the energy to write and contribute to current debates about the development of Africa.

The two leaders also used the opportunity to reflect on recent events in South Africa. In the meeting, the leaders engaged on misconceptions created about the situation in South Africa that gave the impression that Nigerian nationals in particular had been victimised. No loss of life was reported among Nigerian nationals in South Africa during this period.

Former President Obasanjo expressed his sincere appreciation of President Ramaphosa’s recent appointment of a team of Special Envoys who have in the past few days visited a number of fellow African states to deliver a message from the President regarding the incidents of violence.


Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria