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 one of the biggest mistakes he made while in government.
Obasanjo made the disclosure on Friday during a fireside chat with veteran entertainer and activist, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, in Lagos.
Naijaonpoint reports that the event was held to unveil Charly Boy’s foundation and his memoir, 999: A Memoir in Tribute to Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.
A video of the event was shared on the YouTube channel of iWitnessLive TV.
Responding to a question about the biggest mistake he made as president, Obasanjo said no leader could claim to have served in office without making mistakes.
However, he identified his choice of vice president as a decision he would not have made if he had known Atiku as well as he did later in their political relationship.
“What I have found in my own life is that what could have been all my life… mistakes that could have been fatal, God had taken care of them for me,” Obasanjo said.
When Charly Boy asked him to identify one of his mistakes, the former President said, “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.”
When asked to confirm whether he was referring to Atiku, Obasanjo replied, “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 experience with Atiku after they assumed office together made him realise that he would have made a different choice if he had known what lay ahead.
“Of course, what I know about him later, well, thank God, because God did not allow his actions and reactions to overwhelm me, or to divert my own focus from Nigeria, or to harm Nigeria even,” he said.
‘There’s No Bitterness’
Despite their political disagreements, Obasanjo said he did not harbour bitterness against his former deputy.
“And there’s no bitterness, because he did things he believed he should do, and God did the things God had to do, which enabled me to achieve what I was able to achieve,” he added.
Obasanjo and Atiku contested the 1999 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party and were elected President and Vice-President respectively.
They served together for eight years, from 1999 to 2007, but their relationship later became strained following political disagreements, particularly during Obasanjo’s second term.
The former President also reflected on the Nigerian Civil War, rejecting claims that the conflict amounted to genocide.
He maintained that the military campaign was aimed at preserving Nigeria’s unity, while acknowledging the devastating impact of the war on the country.
“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.
Obasanjo, who played a significant role in the military operations during the conflict, said he deliberately took steps to minimise civilian casualties.
He cited the recapture of Owerri as an example of his efforts to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.
“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.
