Former President Olusegun Obasanjo disclosed on Sunday that he is 25 per cent deaf, a condition he was unaware of until he struggled to hear conversations during a meeting abroad.

The ex-president made this known in Bauchi on Sunday at the Palace of Emirs of Bauchi, Alh Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu, when he paid a working visit and donated hearing aids to 2,000 people with hearing difficulties.

Obasanjo, while speaking, said that many people suffer deafness unknowingly until medical check-ups reveal to them their hearing capacity.

He narrated how he was abroad and couldn’t hear clearly while someone was talking to him and insisted nothing was wrong with his ears when the man asked for his permission to check his ears.

Shockingly to him, after the result came out, it was revealed that he was 25 per cent deaf.

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“After my result came out, I had to ask the man to also check on my Chief Security Officer then, but shockingly enough, he was more deaf than I was,” he said.

He said that his experience informed the beginning of his Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation, where thousands of Nigerians had benefited from its ear treatments and provision of hearing aids.

He also explained that he would be flagging off the distribution of hearing aids to over 10,000 indigent people in the Northeast, starting from Bauchi State, where 2,000 people would benefit.

Obasanjo, who acknowledged that the security situation in the country has worsened over the years, said all hands must be on deck to tackle the security threats headlong.