…ADC Flagbearer Says Opposition to Constitutional Breach Is Real Reason Behind Ex-President’s Renewed Attacks as Atiku Insider Details Secret Third-Term Push
Fresh details have emerged on the bitter feud between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his former deputy, Atiku Abubakar, with sources close to the former Vice President insisting that Obasanjo’s latest attacks are rooted in Atiku’s refusal to support the controversial third-term agenda that nearly altered Nigeria’s constitutional order.
A senior source close to Atiku told KTH Daily that the former Vice President remains convinced that his opposition to Obasanjo’s alleged bid to extend his tenure beyond the constitutionally permitted two terms is the real reason the former President has continued to publicly criticise him nearly two decades later.
The source disclosed that before the third-term controversy exploded into the open, Obasanjo allegedly enlisted two prominent Nigerians to persuade Atiku to support the plan.
According to the source, one was a former Minister of Information, while the other was a Senior Advocate of Nigeria of South-East extraction.
The emissaries reportedly approached Atiku believing they could secure his backing for the constitutional amendment.
However, the source claimed Atiku flatly rejected the proposal and sent them back with a blunt warning for Obasanjo.
“Go and tell him that I will fight him to a standstill. I will not be alive to see him subvert the Constitution,” the source quoted Atiku as saying.
The insider further claimed that Atiku remains unapologetic about his opposition, insisting that if faced with a similar situation today, he would resist Obasanjo all over again.
According to the source, Obasanjo justified the proposed tenure extension by arguing that several African leaders who were already in power when he served as military Head of State —including former Togolese ruler Gnassingbé Eyadéma, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Gabon’s Omar Bongo—were still in office when he returned as a democratically elected President in 1999.
The source alleged that Obasanjo believed Nigeria also required a long-serving leader to guarantee political stability and continuity.
However, Atiku reportedly opposed the proposal from the outset, arguing that it amounted to an unconstitutional extension of presidential tenure.
The source added that the plan also ran into stiff resistance from state governors, many of whom reportedly insisted they would only support a third term for the President if they too were allowed to seek third terms in their respective states.
Obasanjo was said to have rejected that demand, leading many governors to withdraw their support for the constitutional amendment.
The fresh disclosures came as Atiku publicly responded to Obasanjo’s recent allegations that he plotted to remove him from office shortly after they assumed power in 1999.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former Vice President dismissed Obasanjo’s claims that he bribed the late Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, to initiate impeachment proceedings against him.
Atiku described the allegation as reckless and unfair to the memory of the late Speaker, noting that Na’Abba was no longer alive to defend himself.
“If this allegation were true, why did he never make it while Rt. Hon. Na’Abba was alive?” Atiku asked.
“Why wait until the only man who could confirm or refute the claim has departed this world?”
He also questioned why no investigation or prosecution was ever initiated if there had indeed been evidence of criminal conduct at the time.
Atiku further alleged that Obasanjo’s renewed accusations were politically motivated and timed to influence the political environment ahead of the 2027 general election.
According to him, the objective is to tarnish his reputation while conferring an advantage on the former President’s preferred candidate.
Reiterating what his associates describe as the central issue dividing the two men, Atiku declared that his greatest “offence” was standing against Obasanjo’s third-term ambition.
“As a democrat, I chose the path of constitutionalism and the rule of law,” he said.
“Rather than surrender democratic principles on the altar of personal ambition, I defended the Constitution and successfully asserted my rights through the courts. It is evident that the bitterness arising from that defining period has failed to leave former President Obasanjo.”
He added that Nigeria’s current economic and governance challenges deserved greater attention than political disputes dating back more than two decades, while affirming that Obasanjo remained free to support any candidate of his choice ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
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