Paul Ibe, Media Adviser to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, says he now regrets the admiration he once held for former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as the long-simmering feud between the two politicians flares up again.
Ibe made the comments in a Facebook post on Sunday, two days after Obasanjo described picking Atiku as his running mate in the 1999 election as the biggest mistake of his presidency.
The remarks have reignited scrutiny of the decades-old relationship between the two former allies turned rivals.
Obasanjo made the original comment during a fireside chat with entertainer and activist Charles Oputa, known as Charly Boy, in Lagos on Friday. He said that had he known Atiku better at the time, he would not have chosen him as his deputy.
“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,” Obasanjo said.
In response, Ibe pointed Nigerians to Bitter-Sweet: My Life with Obasanjo, the 2008 memoir written by Obasanjo’s first wife, Oluremi Obasanjo, calling it a window into what he described as the contradictions between Obasanjo’s public persona and private conduct.
Ibe referenced allegations from the book claiming a pattern of domestic abuse and emotional trauma during the marriage, as well as claims about Obasanjo’s personal life that he said were corroborated by accounts from the former president’s son. He argued these allegations had reshaped how he views Obasanjo.
“Lack of sexual discipline, incestuous affairs and domestic violence are extreme manifestations of moral bankruptcy,” Ibe said. “Yet this is the same man who has made a trade of pointing accusing fingers at others.”
He added that had he known then what he knows now, he would never have held Obasanjo in such high regard, accusing the former president of hypocrisy and double standards.
The exchange is the latest chapter in a political relationship stretching back to 1999, when Obasanjo and Atiku ran together on the PDP platform and governed for eight years before their alliance collapsed into public rivalry during Obasanjo’s second term.
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