Atiku was my biggest mistake as president – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described his decision to choose former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as his running mate in the 1999 presidential election as the biggest mistake of his presidency.

 

Obasanjo made the remark on Friday in Lagos during a fireside conversation with veteran entertainer and activist Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, at the public presentation of Charly Boy’s foundation and memoir, 999: A Memoir in Tribute to Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.

 

Responding to a question on the greatest mistake he made while in office, the former president said every leader makes mistakes, but selecting Atiku as his deputy was the one decision he regretted most.

 

“What I have found in my own life is that mistakes that could have been fatal, God had taken care of them for me,” Obasanjo said.

 

When pressed to identify a specific mistake, he replied, “The man I picked as my running mate, my number two. If I had known him as I came to know him later, I would not have picked him.”

 

Asked by Charly Boy if he was referring to Atiku, Obasanjo responded, “My vice president. I don’t know what name you want to give him, but my vice president, I mean that.”

 

The former president said his assessment was based on what he later learned about his former deputy.

 

“Of course, what I know about him later… I would not have picked him. Thank God that God did not allow his actions and reactions to overwhelm me, divert my focus from Nigeria or harm Nigeria,” he said.

 

Despite his criticism, Obasanjo insisted he bore no personal grudge against Atiku.

 

“There’s no bitterness because he did what he believed he should do, and God did what God had to do, which enabled me to achieve what I was able to achieve,” he added.

 

Obasanjo and Atiku served as Nigeria’s first democratically elected President and Vice President after the return to civilian rule in 1999 under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.

 

Their relationship later deteriorated during Obasanjo’s second term, particularly after Atiku opposed the controversial bid to amend the Constitution to allow a third presidential term.

 

The political rift led to legal battles after Obasanjo declared the vice president’s office vacant following Atiku’s defection from the PDP to the Action Congress ahead of the 2007 general election. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that the president lacked the constitutional power to remove an elected vice president.

 

Since leaving office, both men have repeatedly exchanged accusations over corruption, abuse of office and political betrayal.

 

In his 2014 memoir, My Watch, Obasanjo accused Atiku of corruption and disloyalty, allegations the former vice president rejected, accusing his former principal of attempting to rewrite history.

 

Although both politicians briefly reconciled ahead of the 2019 presidential election when Obasanjo endorsed Atiku’s presidential bid, the alliance was short-lived, with the former president remaining one of Atiku’s most outspoken critics.