Obasanjo says Donald Trump's election was to humble Americans and show them they are still human

FORMER president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has joined the debate about the emergence of Donald Trump as the US president saying that it happened because Americans needed to be humbled and made to realise they are only human.

In a shock result that reverberated around the world, Donald Trump was elected US president last November despite doing everything he could to lose the election. His extreme views on immigration, isolationism, world affairs, women and America's neighbours have raised eyebrows and created a lot of global uncertainty.

Wading into the debate, Chief Obasanjo said Americans are humans too like Africans, hence why they erred in choosing Donald Trump as president. Since assuming office, President Trump has been making enemies by the day and is widely ridiculed for his reckless statements that reduce America's international standing.

Chief Obasanjo said: “The fact that America can produce a Trump in this day and age means Americans are as human as we are. Trump has come so that America can be humbled and we can also learn that lesson.”

Speaking during the launch of the French version of a book entitled Making Africa Work at the French Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Chief Obasanjo said President Trump proves that it is not only African leaders who can do wrong. The book described as a trenchant analysis of the continent economic fault lines and a handbook of best practices to redress them, is authored by Greg Mills, Jeffrey Herbst, Chief Obasanjo and Dickie Davis.

In his speech, the former president pointed out that although Africa still needs foreign direct investment, it is time for the continent to show the rest of the world that it can take charge of its own future. He added: “Nobody can do it for us and if we do it, we will get it right.”