Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says he would not have chosen Atiku Abubakar as his running mate in 1999 if he had known what he later discovered

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday 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 eight years in office.

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Obasanjo made the striking admission in Lagos during a fireside conversation with veteran entertainer and activist Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, at the public presentation of Oputa’s foundation and memoir, 999: A Memoir in Tribute to Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.

The former President, who governed Nigeria alongside Atiku from 1999 to 2007, said he would have made a different choice if he had known at the time what he later came to learn about his former deputy.

A video of the event, later published by iWitnessLive TV on YouTube, showed Obasanjo responding to a question from Charly Boy about the greatest mistake of his presidency.

“What I have found in my own life is that mistakes that could have been fatal, God had taken care of them for me,” Obasanjo said.

When pressed to identify a specific decision he regretted, the former President pointed to his choice of running mate.

“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,” he said.

When Charly Boy asked whether he was referring to Atiku, Obasanjo confirmed that he meant his former vice president.

“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,” Obasanjo added.

Despite the strength of his criticism, Obasanjo said he did not harbour personal bitterness towards Atiku, suggesting that their turbulent political relationship had ultimately not prevented him from pursuing his national agenda.

“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.

The latest comments have revived a long-running political rivalry that has remained one of the defining relationships of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic.

Obasanjo and Atiku became Nigeria’s first democratically elected President and Vice President following the restoration of civilian rule in 1999, winning the presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Their partnership was initially regarded as politically formidable, with Atiku taking a prominent role in economic policy and serving in key government institutions, including the National Economic Council and the National Council on Privatisation.

The relationship, however, deteriorated during Obasanjo’s second term, particularly over the controversial attempt by political allies of the former President to amend the Constitution and extend his tenure beyond two terms.

Atiku’s opposition to the proposed third-term bid deepened tensions between both men, culminating in a bitter political struggle that became one of the most consequential episodes of the early Fourth Republic.

The dispute later extended to a constitutional battle over the vice president’s position after Atiku left the PDP for the Action Congress ahead of the 2007 general election.

The Supreme Court eventually ruled that the President did not have the constitutional authority to remove an elected vice president, allowing Atiku to remain in office until the end of the administration.

Their rivalry continued after they left office, with both politicians trading allegations over corruption, political loyalty and the conduct of government.

In his 2014 memoir, My Watch, Obasanjo made serious allegations against Atiku, while Atiku rejected the claims and accused his former principal of attempting to distort the history of their time in government.

The pair later appeared to mend fences ahead of the 2019 presidential election, when Obasanjo endorsed Atiku’s bid against then-President Muhammadu Buhari.

The political rapprochement, however, did not result in a lasting reconciliation, as both men subsequently pursued different political directions.

Obasanjo’s latest remarks therefore offer a fresh and unusually candid reflection on the decision that brought Atiku into the presidency alongside him more than 27 years ago.

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While the former President’s assessment is rooted in his personal experience of their years in power, it also underscores the enduring impact of the political choices made during the formative years of Nigeria’s current democratic era.