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.
Mr Obasanjo made the remark in Lagos on Friday, during a fireside conversation with veteran entertainer and activist Mr 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.
The former President, who served alongside Mr Atiku between 1999 and 2007, said although every leader makes mistakes in office, his choice of vice president remained the one decision he regretted most, adding that he would never have selected Mr Atiku had he known then what he later discovered about his former deputy.
A video of the event, later published by iWitnessLive TV on YouTube, captured Mr Obasanjo reflecting on his years in office after Charly Boy asked him to identify the greatest mistake he made as president.
‘I would not have picked him’
Mr Obasanjo said, “What I have found in my own life is that mistakes that could have been fatal, God had taken care of them for me.”
When pressed to identify one specific mistake, the former President 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.”
When Charly Boy sought clarification on whether he was referring to Mr Atiku, Mr Obasanjo responded, “My vice president. I don’t know what name you want to give him, but my vice president, I mean that.”
He maintained that, with the benefit of hindsight, he would have made a different choice.
“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.
‘No bitterness’
Despite the criticism, Mr Obasanjo insisted he harboured no personal resentment toward Mr 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.
The remarks represent one of the strongest public assessments Mr Obasanjo has made about his decision to select Mr Atiku as vice president, reviving a political rivalry that has shaped Nigeria’s democratic landscape for more than two decades.
Long-running political feud
Mr Obasanjo and Mr Atiku emerged as Nigeria’s first democratically elected President and Vice President after the end of military rule in 1999, winning the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
During much of their first term, the administration was regarded as a strong political partnership, with Mr Atiku playing a prominent role in the National Economic Council, the National Council on Privatisation and several economic reform initiatives.
However, relations between the two leaders deteriorated sharply during Mr Obasanjo’s second term in office.
The crisis deepened after Mr Atiku opposed efforts by allies of Mr Obasanjo to amend the Constitution to allow a third presidential term.
The failure of the controversial constitutional amendment in 2006 widened the rift between the two men and triggered one of the fiercest political battles of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic.
The dispute later escalated into legal battles after Mr Obasanjo declared Mr Atiku’s office vacant following his defection from the PDP to the then Action Congress ahead of the 2007 general election.
The Supreme Court eventually ruled that the President lacked the constitutional power to remove an elected vice president, allowing Mr Atiku to complete his tenure.
Years of public accusations
Since leaving office, both men have repeatedly exchanged accusations of corruption, abuse of office and political betrayal.
In his 2014 memoir, My Watch, Mr Obasanjo accused Mr Atiku of corruption, disloyalty and placing personal ambition above national interest.
Mr Atiku rejected the allegations, accusing his former principal of attempting to rewrite history and portraying himself as the victim of political persecution during the final years of the Obasanjo administration.
Although the two politicians briefly reconciled ahead of the 2019 presidential election, when Mr Obasanjo endorsed Mr Atiku’s presidential bid against then-President Muhammadu Buhari, the reconciliation was short-lived, with both men later returning to opposing political camps.
Mr Obasanjo has since remained one of Mr Atiku’s most outspoken critics, repeatedly urging Nigerians to prioritise competence, integrity and national interest when choosing future leaders.
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