Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has described his decision to pick former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as his running mate in the 1999 presidential election as the greatest mistake of his presidency.
Obasanjo made the remark in Lagos on Friday during the course of a fireside conversation with veteran entertainer and activist Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, at the public presentation of Charly Boy’s foundation and memoir, 999: A Memoir in Tribute to Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.
The former President, who served alongside Atiku between 1999 and 2007, said although every leader makes mistakes in office, his choice of vice president remained the one decision he regretted most, saying he would never have chosen him had he known then what he later discovered about his former deputy.
A video of the event, later published by iWitnessLive TV on YouTube, captured Obasanjo reflecting on his years in office after Charly Boy asked him to identify the greatest mistake he made as president.
“What I have found in my own life is that mistakes that could have been fatal, God had taken care of them for me,” he stated.
Asked further to identify one specific mistake, the former President responded, “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 Charly Boy sought clarification on 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.”
He stressed that the benefit of hindsight, he would have made a different choice.
“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,” he said.
The former President, however, insisted he harboured no personal resentment against Atiku despite their turbulent political relationship.
“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 added.
