Atiku Says He Has No Apology For Stopping Obasanjo’s Third-Term Bid

Atiku Abubakar has pushed back against former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s latest criticism, saying he has no apology for opposing Obasanjo’s failed third-term bid.

The response follows Obasanjo’s remark, earlier reported by NaijaTrend here, that choosing Atiku as his running mate in 1999 was the biggest mistake of his presidency.

In a statement issued by his senior special assistant on public communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said Obasanjo was trying to rewrite history. He said his opposition to the third-term plan was about defending Nigeria’s constitution, not a personal quarrel between two former allies.

Punch and Daily Trust both reported Atiku as saying he was proud to have stood against the third-term agenda and had no apology for frustrating any attempt to subvert democracy for personal ambition.

Atiku also said the fight over the third-term plan had already been settled by history. He argued that Nigerians, democracy and the constitution won that battle.

The former vice-president’s statement keeps alive a long-running political feud between the two men, who governed together from 1999 to 2007 before falling out sharply during Obasanjo’s second term. The exchange now returns that dispute to public debate as Atiku remains active in opposition politics.

Sources: Punch and Daily Trust.