Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed regret over choosing Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as his vice-presidential candidate for the 1999 elections.
Speaking in Lagos during a fireside chat with entertainer Charles Oputa (Charly Boy)—held at the launch of Oputa’s foundation and memoir, 999: A Memoir in Tribute to Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa—Obasanjo reflected on their troubled political relationship.
Though the duo governed Nigeria together from 1999 to 2007, their alliance fell apart during their second term, turning them into bitter rivals.
Obasanjo added that he was grateful to God for preventing Atiku from causing harm to the nation while they were in office.
“The man I picked as my running mate, my number two, if I had known as I came to know him later, I would not have picked him.
“I mean my vice-president. What I know about him later makes me thank God because God did not allow his actions and reactions to overwhelm me or to divert my focus from Nigeria or to harm Nigeria.
“And then, there is no bitterness because he did things that he believed he should do and God did things He had to do, which made me achieve what I was able to achieve,” Obasanjo said.
According to PerSecondNews, former President Olusegun Obasanjo is withholding his support from Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), for the upcoming 2027 election.
Instead, the former president is widely believed to be throwing his weight behind Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), in an effort to unseat incumbent President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).