Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed how smoking during his youth nearly led him to drug addiction. He made this revelation over the weekend in Abeokuta during the second edition of the Fly Above The High anti-drug campaign conference organized by the Recovery Advocacy Network.

Obasanjo recounted how chronic coughing caused by smoking in his younger years almost pushed him into addiction. He used the occasion to urge Nigerian youths and students to avoid psychoactive drugs, emphasizing their destructive impact on lives.

“If I had persisted, I could have become addicted. Once you get involved, it is difficult to get out,” Obasanjo warned.

He also lamented the rising trend of drug abuse in Nigeria and West Africa, describing it as a worsening crisis over the past decade. “West Africa has been a center for drug consumption in a very bad way. And whatever applies to West Africa applies to all other parts of Africa,” he said.

Obasanjo called for support rather than stigmatization for individuals battling addiction, encouraging them to seek help to overcome their struggles.