By Jane Okafor Abuja
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of sustaining what he described as a more than two-decade campaign of “lies, political manipulation and orchestrated deceit” against him.
Atiku, through his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, made the accusation on Sunday while responding to a fresh claim by Obasanjo that the former vice president mobilised the late Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba, to plot his removal from office during their administration between 1999 and 2007.
Obasanjo reportedly made the allegation on July 23, reviving one of the longstanding disputes surrounding the political relationship between the two former leaders.
In a statement issued in Abuja, Ibe accused Obasanjo of repeatedly resurrecting allegations against Atiku, particularly around election periods, and argued that the former president’s latest claims were beginning to unravel.
According to him, Obasanjo had again raised an allegation involving a deceased former lawmaker who could no longer respond to the claim.
“This time, he chose to make a man who passed away nearly three years ago the subject of his baseless allegation,” Ibe said, referring to Na’Abba, who died in 2023.
Ibe said the allegation was contradicted by the account of Abubakar Bwari, a former member of the House of Representatives who served as Chief Whip during the period in question.
According to Bwari’s account, as cited by Atiku’s camp, Na’Abba did not seek Obasanjo’s removal from office. Rather, Bwari said Atiku acted as an emissary to members of the National Assembly on behalf of the former president.
The statement also challenged the account of the relationship between Obasanjo and Atiku in the run-up to the 2003 presidential election.
Ibe cited comments by former Abia State governor and former Peoples Democratic Party governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, who recalled that Atiku appealed to PDP governors to support Obasanjo’s re-election.
“Atiku knelt down; we were like 17 governors. He knelt down for us and said that he does not want to be disloyal to Obasanjo. That four years is like four days,” Kalu was quoted as saying.
Ibe argued that Kalu’s account contradicted claims allegedly advanced by Obasanjo’s supporters that the former president had been compelled to kneel before Atiku to secure his backing for a second term.
Kalu was also quoted as saying that some PDP governors had been preparing the ground for Atiku to emerge as president but that the then vice president rejected the plan because he did not want to betray Obasanjo.
“Atiku was almost a President. We had gotten everyone to postpone the (PDP) convention and had gotten what we needed to move forward, but he (Atiku) said this man (Obasanjo) trusted him, and allowed him to work with him. That he cannot betray Obasanjo,” Kalu said, according to the statement.
The latest response also revisited the controversial Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, investigation that became a major flashpoint in the deteriorating relationship between Obasanjo and Atiku before the 2007 presidential election.
Obasanjo had asked the Senate to investigate alleged financial impropriety involving the fund.
Atiku denied any wrongdoing and submitted himself to investigation. He maintained that the money at the centre of the controversy remained in fixed deposit accounts and argued that the allegations were politically motivated.
Atiku’s camp linked the controversy to his opposition to Obasanjo’s attempt to secure a third term in office.
To reinforce its argument, Ibe cited accounts contained in the autobiography of the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, titled Awujale.
According to Ibe, the late monarch’s account provided details of the treatment of businessman Mike Adenuga during the period, including his arrest by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The statement quoted Adetona as saying EFCC officials went to Adenuga’s Lagos residence on July 9, 2006, broke through the gate and detained him before he was later released following questioning.
“The EFCC purportedly were on the trail of some money belonging to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, but there was really more beneath the veneer,” Adetona wrote, according to the statement.
Ibe said the investigation was allegedly aimed at establishing a connection between Adenuga and Atiku over claims involving PTDF funds.
He also rejected the allegation that Adenuga used PTDF money to finance Globacom’s operating licence, maintaining that the businessman obtained financing for the transaction from BNP Paribas Bank.
Ibe further relied on Adetona’s account of Adenuga’s dealings with Obasanjo following the businessman’s detention and his eventual departure from Nigeria.
According to the account cited by Atiku’s media adviser, Obasanjo later encountered Adenuga at a social gathering and subsequently invited him to Ota, where he allegedly sought the businessman’s assistance in constructing an administrative block at Bells University, an institution founded by the former president.
“Mike agreed, and Cachez Turnkey Projects Ltd handled the project for him,” the statement quoted Adetona as writing.
Ibe said Adenuga eventually left Nigeria amid what he described as continued harassment by the EFCC and returned after Obasanjo left office.
He also cited Adetona’s account that work on the Bells University project slowed during Adenuga’s absence and that the university later sought a meeting with the businessman concerning the continuation of the construction.
The Atiku camp argued that the account raised questions about what it described as a contrast between the former president’s public treatment of Adenuga and his alleged private dealings with the businessman.
Obasanjo and Atiku’s long-running political feud.
The latest war of words is the latest chapter in the longstanding political dispute between Obasanjo and Atiku, whose relationship deteriorated sharply during their second term in office.
The two men were political allies before the 1999 presidential election, when Obasanjo emerged as the PDP’s presidential candidate and selected Atiku as his running mate.
They won re-election in 2003, but their relationship subsequently became strained over political succession, allegations of corruption and Obasanjo’s controversial third-term ambition.
Atiku eventually left the PDP and contested the 2007 presidential election under the Action Congress after his relationship with Obasanjo had broken down.
He has remained a prominent figure in Nigeria’s opposition politics and is currently the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress for the 2027 presidential election.
Against this backdrop, Ibe said Obasanjo’s latest allegation should be considered within the context of the political rivalry that has persisted between the two men for more than 20 years.
He accused the former president of repeatedly attempting to damage Atiku’s reputation and argued that the latest claims would not withstand scrutiny, but Obasanjo had yet to respond to the allegations contained in Atiku’s statement at the time of filing this report.
