The bitter feud between Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar has reignited, with the former president claiming Atiku personally financed a 2002 attempt to remove him from office.
Obasanjo alleged that Atiku handed ₦5 million to then-House of Representatives Speaker Ghali Na’Abba to fuel the impeachment drive.
He also dismissed claims by former Ogun Governor Olusegun Osoba that he deceived Alliance for Democracy (AD) leaders ahead of the 2003 general elections.
Obasanjo alleged that Atiku gave N5 million to Na’Abba to initiate an impeachment move against him during their first term.
He said: “And that takes me to Na’Abba’s impeachment you glowingly talked about. And the way you wrote about it, talking about remorse would suggest stack ignorance on your part or being an accomplice. And both were possible.
“Na’Abba’s impeachment began at the presidency by the Vice-President, who on a Friday when I was out of the office, invited Na’Abba to his office and convinced him, as he had convinced himself and some others but of insignificant number, that I should have only one term as President and this was the act of a man I brought up from governorship to Vice-President.
“From the first day as Vice-President, he raised campaigners for his presidency. On the Friday, he invited Na’Abba; he gave him N5 million to begin his impeachment work. It was all noted, recorded and reported to me by my Chief of Staff, a professional intelligence officer.
“The game continued to be played on with me treating it with contempt as I have committed no impeachable offence except my Vice-President who wanted to take over by hook or by crook.
” It was President Shagari who, on his own volition, asked me about impeachment and I told him that for me, there was absolutely nothing in it.
“He requested my permission to handle it and, of course, I gave him the go-ahead. Aremo Olusegun Osoba, please show me what you will be remorseful for if you were in my position.”
“There is one thing more that you may need to be reminded of in the AD governors and my Vice-President honeymoon. When he failed in the impeachment exercise, he made a two-track approach: one to go with Alex Ekwueme and Alex to hand over to him in the third year of his presidency; second is for the six AD governors of South-West not to have competition from any other party in 2003 so that in 2007, you would all yield the field to my Vice-President.
Reacting to Osoba’s claims, Obasanjo stated in his letter, titled “Reply to Your Inaccurate Posture,” that he always presented issues clearly and transparently.
He argued that Osoba lacked full context on high-level political talks because those matters were handled by senior AD and Afenifere figures.
He maintained that the loss of Southwest AD governors (except Lagos) reflected genuine choices by the electorate rather than any political betrayal by him.
Obasanjo declared: “I take strong and serious objection to your calling me a deceiver because I deceived nobody. I always presented my case and all issues as I had them and as I understood them, no matter whose ox is gored.
“There were issues you did not know or understand because, as you pointed out, they were above your head. They were handled by your elders in Alliance for Democracy and Afenifere.
“Your loss or defeat in 2003 was genuine in all the six states except the one where the figures were successfully and murderously changed as Chief Tinubu, the Head of Service in Lagos State then, accurately reported to me. I took it as what God allowed.
“From information that reached me from the political field, you barely campaigned, and at the tail end of the campaign, you went on TV to apologise to the people for your arrogance and informed them that the starch in your agbada caused your arrogant appearance.
“You were all convinced of this anti-democratic plan, and you all fell for it. I was told that I was said to be selling the idea, and if that was said of me, it was a lie.
“Aremo, such was sold to you: an idaro. And none of you thought it fit to check with me, or I was not worth checking with, since I was not a nominee of AD/Afenifere. Have no dealings with Obasanjo as President but deal with his Vice-President and you would get the best that was a clever political move.
“That quick consultation was like a sounding board. It gave me a quick and good feel. While competing with Alex Ekwueme, I was a guest in his house when I went to Anambra to campaign. We ate together, and the following morning, I went out to campaign.
“On three occasions, I visited Chief Abraham Adesanya, and on the three occasions, he vowed that the Yoruba would not vote for me. I never stopped calling on him to report and to campaign.”
According to Obasanjo, Adesanya urged him to join the Alliance for Democracy, but he declined because he believed the party had become “essentially a tribal party.”
“I told him that AD as essentially a tribal party was in a cul-de-sac,” he stated.
Obasanjo defended his decision to accommodate members of the Alliance for Democracy in his administration after assuming office in 1999.
He said the move was driven by national integration rather than political weakness.
“Bringing PDP and AD to join me for a sort of national government was not out of weakness; rather, it was out of strength and the unity and progress of the country,” he said.
“My position was simple: the Yoruba had been in the periphery for so long; let them come to the mainstream,” he said.
Responding to Osoba’s suggestion that he sought the assistance of the six AD governors to stabilise his administration, Obasanjo dismissed the claim as illogical.
Despite the sharp criticism, Obasanjo praised Osoba for allocating the land on which the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library now stands in Abeokuta.
He described the gesture as one of the former governor’s greatest contributions to Ogun State.
“The greatest service you rendered for me and for Abeokuta is the land allocated for the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library. It has become the most significant landmark in Abeokuta,” he said.
He urged Osoba to embrace humility and gratitude, saying politics should never destroy enduring personal relationships.
“It is not over until it is over and there is no end to humility and thanksgiving.
“In politics, no one should be ignored or disregarded, and politics may end, relationships may live till life’s end,” the former President stated.