Former 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 he made while in office.
Obasanjo made the remark on Friday during a fireside chat with veteran entertainer and activist Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, in Lagos.
The event marked the unveiling of Charly Boy’s foundation and his memoir, 999: A Memoir in Tribute to Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, with a video of the interaction published on iWitnessLive TV’s YouTube channel.
Responding to a question about his biggest misstep as president, Obasanjo noted that no active leader serves without error, but singled out his choice of deputy: “Mistake when I was in government. 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 asked for clarification on whether he was referring to Atiku, the former president responded: “My vice president. I don’t know what name you want to give him, but my vice president, I mean that.”
Reflecting on their tense history, Obasanjo stated that despite later political fallout and disagreements during their second term in office, he harbored no bitterness toward his former deputy: “And there’s no bitterness, because he did things he believed he should do, and God did the things God had to do, which enabled me to achieve what I was able to achieve.”
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