Former Vise President Atiku Abubakar has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of waging a campaign of “lies, political manipulation and orchestrated deceit” against him for over two decades, adding the latest charges by the former president are crumbling “like a pack of cards”.The Executive Branch
This was made known yesterday by Atiku thru his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, in reaction to a recent statement by Obasanjo that the former vice president mobilised the late Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba, to remove him from office during their time between 1999 and 2007.
Obasanjo made the charge on July 23, the PUNCH says, and it rekindled one of the many long-running political scandals surrounding his relationship with Atiku.
In a statement issued in Abuja, Ibe said it has been a routine for Obasanjo to resurrect claims of betrayal and corruption against Atiku whenever an election cycle is around.
“This time he decided to make the subject of his baseless allegation a man who died almost three years ago,” Ibe stated.
Na’Abba who died in 2023 could not have responded to the charge, he continued, calling it a fraudulent claim.
But Ibe quoted a former member of the House of Representatives, Abubakar Bwari, who was the Chief Whip throughout the 1999-2007 sessions, as opposing Obasanjo’s claim.
Na’Abba never asked for Obasanjo to be removed but Atiku was used as a conduit to legislators on behalf of the former president, Bwari said.
The Atiku camp also dismissed a different story about the relationship between Obasanjo and Atiku during the build-up to the 2003 presidential election.
I referred to a video where former governor of Abia State and then governor of the Peoples Democratic Party, Orji Uzor Kalu, said it was Atiku who prostrated before the PDP governors to get their support for the re-election of Obasanjo.
“We were like 17 governors on the side of Atiku. He knelt down. “He knelt down for us and said he does not want to be disloyal to Obasanjo. “That four years is like four days,” Kalu was reported saying.
Ibe said Kalu’s story did not tally with rumours reportedly peddled by Obasanjo’s camp that the former president had to bow before Atiku to get the latter’s support for a second term.
Ibe further described Kalu as saying that the PDP governors had been making plans that would have made Atiku emerge as president, but Atiku declined to violate Obasanjo, who had earlier entrusted him with the position of the vice president.
Atiku was virtually a President. We had convinced all of them to delay the (PDP) convention and we had achieved what we wanted to move forward, but he (Atiku) said this man (Obasanjo) believed in him and let him work with him. That he cannot betray Obasanjo,” Kalu said in the statement.
The statement also returned to one of the most controversial moments in the political relationship between Obasanjo and Atiku, the examination of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund in the run-up to the 2007 presidential election.
Obasanjo had directed the Senate to examine potential financial wrongdoing against the PTDF.
Atiku denied any misconduct and submitted himself to investigation, saying the cash in question were held in fixed deposit accounts.
Atiku had also argued at the time that the claims were politically driven and tied to his opposition to Obasanjo’s contentious campaign for a third term in office.
Ibe also drew on accounts contained in the autobiography of the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, titled Awujale, to further dispute the narrative surrounding the PTDF scandal.
Ibe said that the narrative given by Oba Adetona was a detailed one on how the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission treated the Chairman of Globacom, Mike Adenuga, during the period.
In the statement, Oba Adetona was cited as stating that EFCC officials had visited Adenuga’s Lagos mansion on July 9, 2006, forced their way thru the gate and held him under arrest before he was freed following questioning.
“There was really more beneath the veneer. The EFCC supposedly were on the trail of some money belonging to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund,” the statement quoted Oba Adetona as saying.
The probe was believed to be part of an attempt to link Adenuga with Atiku over suspected allegations relating to PTDF monies.
Adenuga further denied claims that he utilised funds from the PTDF to pay for the operating licence of Globacom, saying that the businessman secured funding from BNP Paribas Bank for the deal.
The statement also highlighted Oba Adetona’s account of his contacts with Adenuga after the businessman was detained and later left Nigeria.
Later, Obasanjo met Adenuga at a social function and invited him to Ota where the former allegedly sought the help of the Globacom chairman in the construction of an administration block at Bells University, which Obasanjo created.
“Mike accepted this and the project was handled by Cachez Turnkey Projects Ltd on his behalf,” the statement quoted Oba Adetona as writing.
Adenuga then left Nigeria due to what he called ongoing harassment by the EFCC but came back after Obasanjo left office, Ibe added.
He also referenced the report of Oba Adetona that the construction project at Bells University slowed down during Adenuga’s absence and that the university later sought a meeting with the businessman about the continuation of the project.
The Atiku camp said the account raised doubts about the former president’s public treatment of Adenuga and his purported private connections with the billionaire.
The current confrontation is part of a long-running political spat between Obasanjo and Atiku, whose relationship worsened considerably in their second time in power.
The two men were political friends until the 1999 presidential election when Obasanjo became the presidential candidate of the PDP and chose Atiku as his running mate.
Their administration was re-elected in 2003 but later differences over political succession, alleged corruption and Obasanjo’s contentious third term bid.
Atiku fell out with Obasanjo and left the PDP to contest the 2007 presidential election on the Action Congress.
The former vice president has continued to be a leading light in Nigeria’s opposition politics and is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress for the 2027 election.
In this regard, Ibe said Obasanjo’s recent charge should be regarded in the light of a political relationship that has been profoundly fought for over 20 years.
He accused the ex-president of trying several times to smear Atiku’s image, adding that the new allegations would not stand.
Obasanjo has yet to make any public comment on the recent claims contained in Atiku’s statement.
When asked to react, the Special Assistant to former President on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi said “No comment.
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