Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of waging a two-decade-long campaign of “lies, political manipulation and orchestrated deceit” against him, insisting that the former president’s latest allegations are crumbling “like a pack of cards.”
Atiku responded on Sunday through his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, to Obasanjo’s recent claim that the former vice president had mobilised the late Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba, to remove him from office during their joint tenure between 1999 and 2007.
Obasanjo reportedly made the allegation on July 23, reviving one of the most enduring controversies in Nigerian political history.
In a statement issued in Abuja, Ibe said it had become a pattern for Obasanjo to resurrect allegations of betrayal and corruption against Atiku whenever an election cycle approaches. He noted that this time, the former president chose to drag a man who passed away nearly three years ago—Na’Abba, who died in 2023—into the fray, a move Ibe described as malicious and cowardly.
However, Ibe cited former House of Representatives Chief Whip, Abubakar Bwari, who served during the 1999–2007 sessions, as contradicting Obasanjo’s account. According to Bwari, Na’Abba never sought Obasanjo’s removal, and it was Atiku who actually acted as an emissary to lawmakers on behalf of the former president.
The Atiku camp also challenged another narrative surrounding the build-up to the 2003 presidential election.
Ibe referenced a video in which former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu recounted how Atiku knelt before 17 PDP governors to plead for their support for 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.
According to Ibe, Kalu’s account directly contradicted claims allegedly promoted by Obasanjo’s camp that the former president had been forced to kneel before Atiku to secure his support for a second term.
Ibe further quoted Kalu as saying that PDP governors had made arrangements that could have positioned Atiku as president, but Atiku declined to betray Obasanjo, who had entrusted him with the vice presidency.
“Atiku was almost a President. We had gotten everyone to postpone the convention and had gotten what we needed to move forward, but he said this man trusted him and allowed him to work with him—that he cannot betray Obasanjo,” Kalu said.
The statement also revisited the controversial investigation into the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) just before the 2007 presidential election. Obasanjo had asked the Senate to probe alleged financial impropriety involving the PTDF. Atiku denied wrongdoing, presented himself for investigation, and maintained the funds remained in fixed deposit accounts, arguing the allegations were politically motivated and linked to his opposition to Obasanjo’s third-term bid.
Ibe relied on the autobiography of the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, to further challenge the PTDF narrative. According to the monarch’s account, EFCC officials broke into Globacom Chairman Mike Adenuga’s Lagos residence on July 9, 2006, kept him under arrest, and later released him. Oba Adetona wrote that “the EFCC purportedly were on the trail of some money belonging to the PTDF, but there was really more beneath the veneer.”
Ibe alleged the investigation was aimed at connecting Adenuga to Atiku over PTDF funds, but he rejected the claim that Adenuga used PTDF money to pay for Globacom’s operating licence, stating the businessman obtained financing from BNP Paribas Bank.
The statement also drew attention to Oba Adetona’s account that Obasanjo later met Adenuga at a social event, invited him to Ota, and requested his assistance in constructing an administrative block at Bells University—a project Adenuga reportedly agreed to undertake.
Ibe said Adenuga later left Nigeria amid continued EFCC harassment but returned after Obasanjo left office. The Atiku camp argued the account raised serious questions about the former president’s public treatment of Adenuga versus his private dealings with him.
The latest exchange is the latest chapter in a long-running political feud between the two men, whose relationship deteriorated sharply during their second term. Disagreements over succession, alleged corruption, and Obasanjo’s controversial third-term bid led Atiku to leave the PDP and contest the 2007 election on the Action Congress ticket.
Atiku remains a major opposition figure and is currently the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress for the 2027 election. Ibe said Obasanjo’s latest allegations should be viewed against this backdrop, accusing the former president of repeatedly attempting to damage Atiku’s reputation.
Obasanjo has yet to publicly respond to the latest claims. When contacted, his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, simply said: “No comment.”
