Ex-President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has revealed a major secret behind the failure of Atiku Abubakar’s 2003 presidential ambition.
Obasanjo revealed this shocking information on Thursday, November 5, in Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, while speaking at the public presentation of ‘Amazing Grace,’ a biography of a former governor of the state, Adebayo Alao-Akala.
He noted that Atiku’s alliance with the late Alex Ekwueme during the 2003 presidential primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) collapsed after Ekwueme was defeated at the poll.
Obasanjo who was the chairman of the occasion at the book launch, gave the explanation to correct an aspect of the book where the author claimed that Atiku backed down before the PDP primary in 2003.
He said: “Again, Atiku did not back down as you claimed until Alex Ekwueme was defeated at the primary of PDP in 2003 as Atiku’s agreement with Ekwueme was to be Ekwueme’s running mate and Ekwueme, as President, spending three years and resigning for Atiku to complete the fourth year and then for Atiku to contest election in his own right in 2007.
“It was after the result of the primary that Atiku backed down, if you put it that way, it was when there was no other choice.”
The erstwhile president also faulted the roles played by Alao-Akala in the failure of the southwest to produce the speaker of the House of Representatives which Aminu Tambuwal eventually won. He said Alao-Akala first proposed Ajibola Muraina and he, Obasanjo, and others accepted him but said Alao-Akala later began to lobby for Mulikat Akande, who was eventually defeated by Tambuwal.
He said: “Bayo, I will not say much on the issue of Muraina and Mulikat for speaker of House of Representatives as reported on page 391 as you put it, ‘I sinned against this man once and that has marred our fantastic relationship.
“The story as you put it down is not correct. You proposed Muraina for the job and we all accepted him for southwest and started to work. As a result, the then national vice-chairman of PDP, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, wrote to the then acting chairman of PDP, Alhaji Haliru Mohammed Bello, on 12 May 2011, to put forward Muraina.”
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