Former President Olusegun Obasanjo rejects allegations that he deceived Southwest governors, offering a detailed account of the political manoeuvring surrounding the 2003 presidential election

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has sharply rejected claims by former Ogun State Governor, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, that he deceived the Southwest governors of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) during the political negotiations surrounding Nigeria’s 2003 general election.

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In a detailed response to Osoba’s account, published in The Legal Observer on July 20, 2026, Obasanjo took particular exception to being described as deceitful, arguing that the former governor had presented an incomplete and inaccurate account of events that unfolded before and after the election.

The Obasanjo fires back at Osoba response offered a rare and extensive glimpse into the former president’s recollection of the political calculations, personal relationships and behind-the-scenes negotiations that shaped the Southwest’s relationship with his administration.

Obasanjo said several events referred to by Osoba were beyond the former governor’s knowledge, insisting that key discussions had been handled by senior figures within the AD and Afenifere political establishment.

“I take strong and serious objection to your calling me a deceit because I deceived nobody,” Obasanjo wrote.

He said that after his release from prison, several groups approached him about returning to public office, although he initially paid little attention to the suggestions because of pressing family responsibilities.

According to Obasanjo, one delegation was led by Lawan Katsina, while other approaches came from groups led by Chief S. M. Afolabi and Martins Kuye.

He said he subsequently consulted political figures across the Southwest, Southeast and Northern regions before deciding to take an interest in emerging party formations.

Obasanjo recalled consulting figures including Chief Akinloye, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Richard Akinjide and Professor Oyeleye in the Southwest, as well as Sunday Awoniyi and Adamu Ciroma in the North and Professor Anezi Okoro and Arthur Mbanefo in the Southeast.

He said those consultations helped shape his decision to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while he continued campaigning for the party’s presidential ticket.

The former president also revisited his relationship with prominent Yoruba leaders, including the late Chief Abraham Adesanya, saying Adesanya repeatedly told him that the Yoruba would not vote for him.

Obasanjo said he nevertheless continued to visit Adesanya and maintained his respect for him, despite the political disagreement.

The former president then recalled a meeting involving former United States President Jimmy Carter, who visited Nigeria ahead of the 2003 election to encourage a peaceful electoral process.

According to Obasanjo, he encountered Bola Ige as he was entering the Sheraton Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, where Carter was meeting presidential candidates.

“I asked, ‘Bola, how now? I met you in Ibadan and you said that there would be fence-mending to do. Have you done the fence-mending for me?’ He said, ‘We will meet in the field’. We never met in the field. That was above your head,” Obasanjo recalled.

Obasanjo said the PDP ultimately won 21 governorships outside the Yoruba-speaking parts of the country, while he secured almost 63 per cent of the presidential vote nationally, although he received limited support in much of the Southwest.

Rather than viewing the result as a reason for political bitterness, Obasanjo said he believed political leaders should continue communicating, expanding their circles and seeking ways to turn adversaries into neutrals and neutrals into friends.

He said his decision to bring members of the AD and Afenifere establishment closer to his administration was motivated by national unity rather than political weakness.

Obasanjo also challenged Osoba’s account of the political upheaval surrounding his administration, particularly the controversy over the attempted impeachment of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba.

The former president alleged that the impeachment effort had originated from within the presidency and accused his then Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, of seeking to position himself for the presidency.

Obasanjo claimed that Na’Abba had been invited to meet with the Vice-President and was allegedly given ₦5 million to begin the impeachment process, an allegation that forms part of his account of the political tensions of the period.

He also rejected the suggestion that he should have been remorseful over the episode, asking Osoba what he would have done differently had he occupied the presidency at the time.

Another major point of disagreement concerned the relationship between Obasanjo’s government and the six AD governors who controlled the Southwest at the time.

Obasanjo argued that the governors could not have dictated the direction of his administration, pointing to the existence of the National Assembly, his political party and the support of 21 PDP governors and nine governors from another party.

He said suggestions that the AD and Afenifere leadership could determine the policies of his government amounted to an underestimation of his authority as president.

Obasanjo further disputed Osoba’s account of political negotiations involving the AD governors and his Vice-President, alleging that a plan existed for the Southwest governors to face no serious opposition from other political parties in 2003, with the expectation that they would later support Atiku’s presidential ambition.

He described the alleged arrangement as anti-democratic and insisted that he had never promoted such a plan.

The former president also reflected on the outcome of the 2003 election, arguing that the AD’s defeat across much of the Southwest was genuine, apart from what he described as an instance in which election figures were allegedly altered.

Obasanjo said the political developments of the period had taught him the importance of tolerance, accommodation and maintaining relationships beyond political disagreements.

Despite the forceful tone of his response, Obasanjo ended his letter on a conciliatory note, acknowledging Osoba’s contribution to his life and to Abeokuta.

He specifically thanked the former governor for allocating land for the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, describing the facility as a significant landmark in Abeokuta and Ogun State.

“But the greatest service you rendered for me and for Abeokuta is the land allocated by you for Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, OOPL,” Obasanjo wrote.

He said the allocation had been made in the interest of his programme and the development of Abeokuta and Ogun State, maintaining that neither political calculations nor personal games were involved in the process.

Obasanjo’s response comes against the backdrop of renewed reflections on the political relationships and tensions that shaped the Southwest ahead of the 2003 elections.

His account presents his decisions as efforts to broaden political inclusion and strengthen national unity, while Osoba’s earlier narrative, as characterised by Obasanjo, places greater emphasis on the expectations and grievances of the AD governors.

The exchange highlights how the political alliances of more than two decades ago continue to influence the memories and interpretations of some of Nigeria’s most prominent political figures.

For Obasanjo, however, the dispute is not simply about the 2003 election.

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His letter frames the disagreement as a broader question of political trust, communication and the enduring tension between regional interests and national leadership.