Who Benefits From Atiku
Who Benefits From Atiku-Obj Altercation
Picking Atiku as vice president greatest mistake of my life’ – Obasanjo
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described his decision to pick Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as running mate in the 1999 presidential election as the biggest mistake of his life.
Obasanjo made the statement on Friday in Lagos during a fireside chat with maverick musician and activist Charly Boy. The event was held to unveil Charly Boy’s foundation and his memoir, “999: A Memoir in Tribute to Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa”.
According to Obasanjo, with hindsight he would not have chosen Atiku as vice president.
“I would say the greatest mistake I made was picking Atiku Abubakar as my vice president in 1999,” he said.
The former president added that he was thankful God did not allow Atiku’s actions and overreactions to derail his administration or distract him from governing the country.
“There is no bitterness in me over what happened,” Obasanjo said.
“Despite everything, I was able to achieve what I set out to achieve while in power.”
He also addressed the long-running controversy about his roots, stating that his parents hailed from Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
“I still know our family house there,” he said.
The event attracted prominent figures including Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth; Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, NDC; business mogul Leo Stan Ekeh, who donated N20 million each on behalf of Obasanjo and Chief Emeka Anyaoku; book reviewer Dr Austin Tam-George; and veteran broadcaster Bisi Olatilo, among other dignitaries.
Obasanjo and Atiku ran together on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and served from 1999 to 2007.
Their relationship later became strained due to political differences during their second term in office.
I clothed, fed you,’ Atiku fires back at Obasanjo
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has said that when former President Olusegun Obasanjo had little to his name after leaving prison, he, Atiku, fed and clothed Obasanjo, ensuring he lacked nothing.
The revelation is coming on the heels of Obasanjo’s statement that he regretted picking Ariku as his vice.
However, Atiku insisted that Obasanjo’s latest attack was rooted in his bitterness over the collapse of his third-term agenda years ago.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said he watched Obasanjo’s recent interview with sadness rather than anger.
Recalling his personal history with the former President, Atiku said he stood by Obasanjo during his years in prison and supported his family, and went further to clothe and care for him after his release before helping to build the political alliances that eventually produced his presidency.
“History records that while Chief Obasanjo was in prison, I stood firmly by him. I supported his family, worked tirelessly with other patriots for his release and never wavered in my belief that he deserved his freedom.
“When he eventually regained his freedom, he had little to his name. I received him, clothed him, ensured he was properly cared for and extended every support necessary to help him regain his footing”, he said.
Obasanjo had recently declared that his greatest regret in life was making Atiku his vice.
But speaking further, Atiku said; “I am proud that I stood against the third-term agenda. I am proud that I stood by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I have no apology whatsoever for frustrating every attempt to subvert our democracy for personal ambition,” Atiku said.
3rd term agenda
He maintained that if Obasanjo’s hostility stemmed from his refusal to back an unconstitutional third term, he would wear that resentment as “a badge of honour,” stressing that the Constitution remains supreme and that no individual is bigger than the country.
Atiku argued that the fight against the third-term agenda was never a personal contest between him and Obasanjo but a defence of Nigeria’s democracy, adding that history had already delivered its verdict in favour of the Constitution.
He also pointed to recent remarks by the Director-General of the World Trade Organization WTO, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who he said described the economic management team he led as among the best the country has had, questioning the timing of Obasanjo’s attack against that backdrop.
“Whether or not the timing is merely coincidental is for Nigerians to judge. What is beyond dispute, however, is that while distinguished Nigerians who served at the highest levels continue to acknowledge my contributions to one of Nigeria’s most successful periods of economic management, Chief Obasanjo appears determined to diminish them,” he said.
He said he harboured no regrets over those sacrifices, describing acts of kindness as matters of conscience rather than transactions requiring repayment, but warned that gratitude should not be replaced with revisionism.
Atiku expressed disappointment that a former President would devote energy to recycling old grudges at a time when Nigeria is grappling with economic hardship, unemployment and insecurity, insisting that the 2027 election should focus on rebuilding the country rather than reopening old wounds.
He said his years of restraint towards Obasanjo were out of respect for the office the former President once occupied, but stressed that such restraint had limits.
“Chief Obasanjo is entitled to his opinions. He is entitled to his personal grievances. What he is not entitled to are his own facts.
“History is stubborn. It cannot be rewritten by bitterness, nor erased by repeated falsehoods. In the end, history will render its verdict—and so will the Nigerian people,” he stated.
2027: Nigerians, not Obasanjo, ‘ll decide election — ADC
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Monday declared that Nigerians, not former President Olusegun Obasanjo, would determine the outcome of the 2027 presidential election, accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of hiding behind attacks on its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to avoid accounting for President Bola Tinubu’s record on the economy, insecurity and the rising cost of living.
According to the opposition party, millions of Nigerians are more concerned about the hardship they face daily than political personalities, insisting that the real contest in 2027 will be over the Tinubu administration’s performance rather than anyone’s opinion of Atiku.
The position was contained in a statement by the ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, who accused the APC of becoming increasingly desperate after Catholic Bishops criticised the state of the nation during their recent meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Rather than respond to the issues raised, he said, the ruling party had chosen to amplify Obasanjo’s remarks about Atiku while attacking those questioning its performance.
“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has observed the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s increasingly desperate obsession with our presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“Unable to defend its catastrophic record after the Catholic Bishops laid bare the true state of the nation during their recent meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu the APC has shamelessly seized on comments by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in a desperate attempt to shift the national conversation and shift attention from their terrible performance in the last three years,” Abdullahi said.
The ADC also faulted the APC’s response to concerns over worsening poverty, insecurity and the soaring cost of living, accusing the party of attacking critics instead of addressing the issues they raised.
“We note how, rather than answer the Bishops’ concerns about worsening poverty, insecurity and the cost of living, the ruling party has chosen instead to attack the messengers, whose only offence is that they spoke truthfully and bursted their bubble of propaganda and self-deception,” the statement added.
The opposition party said the pattern had become the APC’s default response whenever respected Nigerians criticised the administration.
“This has become a familiar pattern. Whenever respected Nigerians point to the deepening poverty, worsening insecurity, rising cost of living, or the collapse of public confidence under this administration, the APC never answers for its record. Instead, it looks for someone to attack.
“Yesterday, it was the Catholic Bishops. Today, it is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Tomorrow, it will be someone else,” the ADC said.
Turning to Obasanjo’s comments, the party maintained that while the former president was entitled to his personal opinion, such views could not erase what it described as the economic record of the administration in which Atiku served as vice president and Chairman of the National Economic Council.
“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is entitled to his personal opinion of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Every Nigerian, including former presidents, enjoys that democratic right. But opinions do not erase records,” it argued.
The statement said Nigeria experienced stronger economic growth, greater macroeconomic stability, stronger investor confidence and a more affordable cost of living during that period than under the current administration, adding that whatever political differences now existed between Obasanjo and Atiku, those achievements remained part of the country’s history.
The ADC further challenged the Federal Government to explain why food prices and the cost of basic necessities had continued to rise despite official claims of economic growth, why more Nigerians had fallen into poverty, why economic growth had failed to create jobs, why borrowing had continued to increase, why debt servicing now consumed a significant share of government revenue, and why many communities remained under constant threat from bandits, terrorists and kidnappers.
“It is time that the APC and their government took a break from attacking Atiku and the Bishops to answer a few important questions,” the statement said.
“Why has the prices of food and basic necessities continue to soar despite proclaimed economic growth? Why have more Nigerians fallen into poverty under your watch than at any other period in Nigeria’s history? Why have you failed to translate your so-called economic growth into jobs? Why have you borrowed more money than any other government in the nation’s history with nothing to show for it? Why is your government spending 69% of its revenue just to service debts… Can the APC explain why communities across the country continue to live under the constant threat of bandits, terrorists and kidnappers while hundreds are still held in kidnappers’ den?”
The ADC maintained that those, rather than political personalities or individual opinions, were the issues that would shape the 2027 presidential election.
“Ultimately, the election will not be decided by the opinion of any one individual. It will be decided by the lived experience of more than 200 million Nigerians who are poorer, more insecure, and more uncertain about their future than they were before the Tinubu administration took office,” the party said.
