Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said his decision to select former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as his running mate in the 1999 presidential election was one of the worst mistakes he made while in government.
Obasanjo made the revelation on Friday in a fireside chat with veteran entertainer and activist, Charles Oputa popularly known as Charly Boy, in Lagos.
The event was reportedly organised to unveil Charly Boy’s foundation and his memoir, 999: A Memoir in Tribute to Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.
The video of the event was shared on the YouTube channel of iWitnessLive TV.
Obasanjo was asked what he considered the biggest mistake he made as president. He said no leader could claim to have served in office without making mistakes.
But he chose his vice president in a way he would not have chosen him if he knew Atiku the way he knew him later in their political relationship.
“I’ve found in my own life 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 point out one of his mistakes, the former President said, “Mistake when I was in government. “If I had known him like I came to know him later, I would not have picked him to be my number two, my running mate.”
Asked if he meant Atiku, Obasanjo said: “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 knew what lay ahead.
“Well, thank God, of course, what I know about him later, 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.
No bitterness’
Despite political disagreements, Obasanjo said he did not nurse bitterness against his former deputy.
“And there’s no bitterness, because he did what he thought he had to do, and God did what God had to do, which allowed me to do what I was able to do,” 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 between 1999 and 2007, but their relationship later soured due to political differences, especially during Obasanjo’s second term in office.
The former President also spoke about the Nigerian Civil War, denying allegations that the war was genocide.
He said the military campaign was aimed at keeping Nigeria united, although he acknowledged the terrible toll the war took on Nigeria.
“The civil war was a traumatic experience for all Nigerians. “Maybe it hurt some a little bit worse than others, depending on where you were, but the civil war was bad for all Nigerians,” he said.
Obasanjo, who was heavily involved in the military operations during the conflict, said he had deliberately taken measures to minimise civilian casualties.
He cited the recapture of Owerri as an example of his effort to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.
“I did not drop one bomb inside Owerri, because it will be destructive; it will have killed innocent civilians. I dropped my bombs short of Owerri and beyond Owerri, to warn the people that we are coming home,” he said.
