I’ve been battling diabetes for 35 years – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has narrated how he has been managing diabetes for the past 35 years, saying the ailment has killed many of his friends.

Obasanjo gave the hint on Wednesday during the closing ceremony of the Ogun State Diabetes Youth Development Camp, held in Abeokuta, Ogun state.

The camp, which was organised by Talabi Diabetes Centre, trained 21 children living with type-1 diabetes in the state on how to manage the disease.

Obasanjo advised the children to manage the ailment well by maintaining good healthy lifestyle, insisting that diabetes is not a killer disease.

The former president told the children to abstain from consuming sugar, foods with carbohydrates and always take their insulin injection in order to manage the disease well.

He said, “I have been diagnosed of diabetes for more than 35 years now and here I am, I’m still going about, I’m still jumping up and down, I’m still doing many things many people of my age cannot do.

“Since I was diagnosed of diabetes, a number of my friends have died and the reason is because they just did not manage their diabetes the way they should manage it.

“It does not matter whether you are type one or type two, so far there is no cure for diabetes, maybe there will be cure before I die, but I pray that there will be cure before you die.

“You have to understand the type of food you should eat, you must completely abstain from sugar. The amount of carbohydrates that you take must be watched.

“Don’t miss your drugs, in your own case, your insulin injection, I take my drugs along with me everywhere I go and I always check my blood sugar level regularly.

“Don’t let anybody put fear in your minds, diabetes, has no cure for now, but it can be managed.”

In his remarks, the camp coordinator, Dr Olubiyi Adesina, said the camp was organised to give information and encourage the young people between age 1 and 21 living with type-1 diabetes.

Adesina added, “These young people are on insulin injection depending on the dose, it is costly. Averagely, each one of them will be spending closely to N20,000 a month on insulin injection alone. And that’s for the rest of their lives, so, it is very expensive to manage this.”