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 he made while serving as Nigeria’s president.
Obasanjo made the remark on Friday 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, in Lagos.
The former president said that although every leader makes mistakes while in office, the choice of Atiku as his deputy remained the one decision he regretted the most. According to him, if he had known Atiku as well in 1999 as he later came to know him during their years in office, he would never have selected him as his running mate.
A video of the event, later published by iWitnessLive TV on YouTube, captured Obasanjo reflecting on his years in government after Charly Boy asked him to identify the greatest mistake of his presidency.
Responding, Obasanjo first said that divine intervention had helped him overcome many difficult situations during his time in office.
“What I have found in my own life is that mistakes that could have been fatal, God had taken care of them for me,” he said.
When Charly Boy insisted that he mention one particular mistake, the former president gave a direct answer.
“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 asked if he was referring to Atiku Abubakar, Obasanjo confirmed that he was speaking about his former vice president.
“My vice president. I don’t know what name you want to give him, but my vice president, I mean that,” he said.
The former president said his opinion was based on what he discovered about Atiku during the eight years they worked together in government.
“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 added.
Despite his criticism, Obasanjo said he did not harbour personal bitterness towards Atiku.
According to him, both men acted according to their convictions, and he believes God helped him remain focused on governing the country despite the political disagreements that later emerged.
“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 said.
Obasanjo’s latest remarks are among his strongest public comments yet on his former deputy and have once again drawn attention to one of Nigeria’s longest-running political rivalries.
The relationship between the two leaders has been marked by years of political conflict, public criticism and legal battles since they left office in 2007.
Obasanjo and Atiku made history in 1999 when they were elected president and vice president on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), becoming the first democratically elected leaders after the end of military rule.
At the beginning of their administration, they were widely seen as a strong political team.
Atiku played a key role in several economic programmes of the administration. He chaired the National Economic Council, supervised the National Council on Privatisation and participated in economic reform initiatives aimed at opening up the economy and encouraging private sector investment.
However, the relationship between both men began to deteriorate during Obasanjo’s second term in office.
The proposed constitutional amendment generated nationwide controversy and was eventually rejected by the National Assembly in 2006.
The failure of the third-term agenda widened the division between both leaders and triggered one of the fiercest political battles of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic.
Their disagreement soon escalated into a constitutional crisis after Atiku left the PDP for the then Action Congress ahead of the 2007 general election.
Following his defection, Obasanjo declared the office of the vice president vacant, arguing that Atiku could no longer remain in office after leaving the ruling party.
The dispute ended at the Supreme Court, which ruled that the president had no constitutional power to remove an elected vice president.
The judgment allowed Atiku to complete his tenure, reinforcing constitutional safeguards for elected public officials.
Since leaving office, both men have repeatedly exchanged accusations over corruption, abuse of office, political betrayal and the events that unfolded during their administration.
In his 2014 memoir, *My Watch*, Obasanjo accused Atiku of corruption, disloyalty and putting personal ambition above the national interest.
Atiku rejected the allegations, insisting that his former principal was attempting to rewrite history. He also argued that he became a victim of political persecution after refusing to support the third-term project.
Although both politicians briefly reunited ahead of the 2019 presidential election, when Obasanjo publicly endorsed Atiku’s presidential bid against then-President Muhammadu Buhari, the reconciliation did not last.
After the election, they once again went their separate ways and resumed public disagreements over national issues and leadership.
Over the years, Obasanjo has consistently called on Nigerians to place competence, integrity and patriotism above political loyalty when electing leaders.
Atiku, on the other hand, has remained one of Nigeria’s leading opposition figures. He has contested for the presidency multiple times and continues to play a prominent role in national politics.
Obasanjo’s latest comments are expected to generate fresh political debate, especially as discussions around the country’s future leadership continue ahead of the next general election.