Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described his decision to select former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as his running mate in the 1999 presidential election as the biggest mistake of his presidency.
Obasanjo made the remark on Friday in Lagos 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.
Reflecting on his time in office, the former president said that while every leader makes mistakes, choosing Atiku as his deputy remains the one decision he regrets most.
A video of the event, later published by iWitnessLive TV on YouTube, showed Charly Boy asking Obasanjo to identify the greatest mistake of his administration.
Responding, Obasanjo said, “What I have found in my own life is that mistakes that could have been fatal, God had taken care of them for me.”
When pressed to mention a specific mistake, he replied, “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.”
Asked whether he was referring to Atiku Abubakar, Obasanjo responded, “My vice president. I don’t know what name you want to give him, but my vice president, I mean that.”
The former president said his opinion was based on what he later learned about his former deputy, adding that he would have made a different choice with the benefit of hindsight.
“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 said.
Despite their long-running political differences, Obasanjo insisted he holds no personal grudge against Atiku.
“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 added.
Obasanjo and Atiku served together as president and vice president between 1999 and 2007 before their relationship deteriorated over political disagreements. His latest comments mark one of his strongest public criticisms yet of the decision to choose Atiku as his running mate, reviving a rivalry that has shaped Nigeria’s political landscape for more than two decades.
