Olusegun Obasanjo, a former President of Nigeria has revealed that he has been living and managing diabetes for the past 35 years.
Obasanjo disclosed this on Wednesday during the closing ceremony of the Ogun State Diabetes Youth Development Camp held in Abeokuta.
Talabi Diabetes Centre organized the camp which trained 21 children living with type 1 diabetes in Abeokuta on how to manage this ailment.
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Obasanjo advised the participants to manage the ailment (diabetes) well by maintaining a healthy lifestyle, insisting that diabetes is not a killer disease.
He then urged them to monitor the type of food they take and completely abstain from sugar.
“I have been diagnosed with 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,” he said.
“It does not matter whether you are type one or type two. So far, there is no cure for diabetes. Maybe there will be a cure before I die, but I pray that there will be a cure before you die.”
While noting that some of his friends had succumbed to the disease, Obasanjo attributed the development to a lack of management of the disease.
“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,” Obasanjo told the participants.
