Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Atiku Abubakar, has described former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s allegation that he bribed the late Rt. Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba to impeach him as politically motivated.
Atiku claimed that Obasanjo was continuously hostile to him over his (Atiku’s) opposition to a third-term agenda for the former President, and how he “defended the Constitution and successfully asserted my rights through the courts in a series of landmark legal victories against a sitting President”.
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Friday, Atiku said “It is evident that the bitterness arising from that defining period has failed to leave former President Obasanjo.”
He continued, “Coming at a time when the political landscape ahead of the 2027 general election is taking shape, the obvious objective is to besmirch my person and reputation and confer an undeserved political advantage on the former President’s kinsman. Nigerians, however, know better. They are too discerning to be distracted by stale allegations resurrected for political convenience.”
The ADC leader urged Obasanjo to declare his political preference publicly rather than rely on unverifiable allegations, saying, “If former President Obasanjo has chosen to take a political position ahead of 2027, he should simply declare it and allow Nigerians to judge it on its merits, rather than attempting to influence public opinion through allegations that can no longer be tested because the principal witness is no longer alive.”
The former vice president questioned why Obasanjo chose to make the allegation only after Na’Abba’s death, arguing that this denied Nigerians the opportunity to hear the other side of the story.
He insisted the allegation lacked any judicial or official backing, adding, “If there was indeed evidence of any criminal conduct as alleged, Nigerians are entitled to ask why no action was taken at the time by a government that wielded the full powers of the Nigerian state.”
He said he would not be drawn into historical political disputes while the country contends with economic hardship, insecurity, unemployment, and hunger.
“Our focus remains unwavering: offering credible alternatives, defending democracy, demanding accountability and working with all patriotic Nigerians to restore competent, transparent and people-centred leadership to our country. Nigerians deserve solutions to today’s problems, not recycled political tales from yesterday,” Atiku said.
Atiku was responding to allegations by his former boss that Atiku sponsored an impeachment plot against him during his first term and secretly worked with some political actors to stop his re-election in 2003.
(Ripples)