Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described his decision to pick former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as his running mate in the 1999 presidential election as the biggest mistake of his life.
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Obasanjo spoke in Lagos at the unveiling of activist and musician Charly Boy’s foundation and his memoir, “999: A Memoir in Tribute to Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.”
Asked by Charly Boy to identify one major mistake he made while in office as President, Obasanjo said he would not have chosen his former deputy if he had known him as he later came to know him.
“Mistake when I was in government? 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,” Obasanjo said.
When Charly Boy asked whether he was referring to Atiku, the former president replied, “My vice president. I don’t know what name you want to give him, but my vice president, I mean that.”
He added, “If I had known him as I came to know him later, I would not have picked him. Thank God his actions and reactions did not overwhelm me or divert my own focus from Nigeria. There is no bitterness. He did things he believed he should do and God did things he needed to do, which enabled me to achieve what I was able to achieve.”
The relationship between Obasanjo and Atiku became strained during their second term in office between 2003 and 2007, following political disagreements that later defined their years after leaving office.
This is not the first time Obasanjo would publicly criticise his choice of Atiku as running mate. In June 2022, while speaking to students from selected secondary schools who participated in the final of the National Exhibition and Awards organised by Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Obasanjo said picking his “Number Two” was one of the genuine mistakes he made in public life.
“One of the mistakes I made was picking my Number Two when I wanted to become the president,” he said at the time, adding that God saved him because it was a genuine mistake.
The latest remark also comes days after both statesmen engaged in a public exchange over Obasanjo’s allegation that Atiku bribed former Speaker of the House of Representatives, the late Rt. Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba, with ₦5 million to support moves to impeach him before the 2003 elections.
Atiku denied the allegation, describing it as baseless and unfair, especially as Na’Abba is no longer alive to respond to the claim.
At the Lagos event, Obasanjo also reflected on the Nigerian Civil War, rejecting suggestions that it amounted to genocide. He insisted that the military campaign was aimed at preserving Nigeria’s unity.
“The civil war was traumatic to all Nigerians. It hurt some maybe a little bit harder than others, depending on where, but the civil war was bad for all Nigerians,” he said.
The former president said he took deliberate steps during the war to minimise civilian casualties, citing the recapture of Owerri as an example.
“I did not drop a single bomb inside Owerri, because it would be destructive — it would have killed innocent civilians. I dropped my bombs short of Owerri and beyond Owerri, to warn people that we are coming home,” he said.
Obasanjo also addressed long-running claims about his roots, saying his parents hailed from Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
“I still know our family house there,” he said.
Prominent personalities at the event included former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, Peter Obi; business mogul Leo Stan Ekeh; book reviewer Dr. Austin Tam-George; and veteran broadcaster Bisi Olatilo, among other dignitaries.
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