“The only octogenarian on the high table, and I don’t think there is even another person on the other side of the table, even in the hall (that is up to 80 years). My brother and friend, and I think the Senate President regards you as a true democrat; I will join the others in congratulating you on your recent crossing of the bar.
“But let me just warn you that crossing the bar or becoming 80 something, you are getting nearer the departure lounge. I will get into the car park with you, but I won’t go into the departure lounge with you.”
Obasanjo said this while congratulating the former vice-president on his 80th birthday. His comments elicited laughter from the audience, including Ekwueme, who spoke with Obasanjo in a hushed tone.
No one, however, heard what Ekwueme told the former president. But Obasanjo replied him again in pidgin to the hearing of everyone, “As we come, na so we go go,” which literally means that those who came to the world first would be the first to die.
While Obasanjo was born on March 5, 1937, Ekwueme was born on October 21, 1932.