Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president, has come under fire for his ongoing denigration of Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), according to former Jigawa governor Sule Lamido.
When Nigeria regained democracy in 1999, Obasanjo and Abubakar were chosen to serve as president and vice president, respectively, on the PDP platform.
However, neither of them had the friendly relationship that is typical of the top two citizens of a nation.
Deep-seated rivalry that still exists between them marred the majority of their time together.
Since they both left almost fifteen years ago, Obasanjo has been vociferous and persistent in calling attention to Atiku’s flaws.
Lamido offered his opinion on the matter, claiming Obasanjo erred by openly criticizing his former deputy.
“Obasanjo is a senior man, somebody who is elderly. He has the right to talk down on his own children but that should be an in-house accusation. He can say Atiku you are this or that but when he says it publicly to the country he led, it is wrong,” said Mr Lamido in an interview with Vanguard newspaper.
He claimed Abubakar made a significant contribution to the platform Mr. Obasanjo used to run for politics in 1999.
Lamido was responding to a few weeks earlier statement by Obasanjo, who claimed that while choosing Atiku to be his deputy was a major error, God preserved him.
“I don’t want to sound rude but when PDP was formed, Obasanjo was in prison and the formation of the PDP had history,” Lamido, a longstanding politician said. “We had a group led by Atiku and many others and also the progressives as symbolised by Solomon Lar, Abubakar Rimi, Jim Nwobodo and many others. It is right to say that when PDP was formed, Obasanjo was not politically known.”
Abubakar cut short his unconstitutional third term bid in an effort to succeed his principal, which caused a rift between Obasanjo and him.
Despite years of attempts to patch things up, Mr. Obasanjo’s characterization of Abubakar as a seriously dishonest politician remains a raw spot in their relationship.
