The Senior Political Assistant to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Demola Olarewaju, has described the long-running disagreement between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Atiku, as political, saying neither nurses personal grudges against the other.
Olarewaju made the claim on Monday during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, where he appeared alongside Executive Director of the Centre for Responsive Governance, Ayodeji Ologun.
According to him, Atiku continues to hold Obasanjo in high esteem despite the political differences that have persisted between the two former leaders since their time in office from 1999 to 2007.
“The relationship between the former President Obasanjo and Atiku, in my view as a Nigerian who witnessed the administration and the post-administration, is the fact that they do not seem to have a personal issue. It is clear from how Atiku holds Obasanjo in high esteem,” Olarewaju said.
He, however, alleged that Obasanjo’s opposition to Atiku’s presidential ambition was at the heart of their differences.
“The issue between them is political and, for reasons best known to Obasanjo, it is very clear and obvious that he does not want Atiku Abubakar to ever be President of the Federal Republic,” he said.
The latest comments come amid renewed exchanges between the two former leaders over their political relationship and events during the administration they jointly led.
Obasanjo recently described his decision to select Atiku as his running mate in the 1999 presidential election as the “biggest mistake” of his political life.
He also alleged that Atiku was involved in an attempt to impeach him in 2003.
The former president claimed Atiku paid N5 million to the late Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, to commence the impeachment process.
Atiku rejected the allegation through his media aides, describing it as part of what he called a longstanding campaign of “lies, deceit and historical distortion” against him.
The former vice president also attributed Obasanjo’s resentment to his refusal to support the former president’s bid for a third term, maintaining that he chose to defend the Constitution and Nigeria’s democratic interests rather than personal loyalty.
Atiku further denied paying Na’Abba and questioned the reliance on the late former speaker, who died in 2023, to support an allegation he could no longer respond to.
His camp has also referred to accounts attributed to political figures who were active during the period, including former House Chief Whip Abubakar Bawa Bwari and former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, in challenging Obasanjo’s version of events.
Olarewaju also questioned what he described as Obasanjo’s belief that no Nigerian leader could match his achievements or govern the country better than he did.
“I think another thing that has become very clear is his instability about the opinion that Obasanjo holds that nobody can meet up with his achievement and nobody can govern Nigeria better than him,” he said.
The aide further described Obasanjo’s political activities since leaving office in 2007 as a “journey of redemption”, linking some of the former president’s political interventions to his relationship with the Yoruba people and his role during the Nigerian Civil War.
He also argued that Obasanjo had been more critical of the administrations of former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari than of the current administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Olarewaju downplayed Obasanjo’s political influence in the South-West, particularly his ability to determine electoral outcomes, while insisting that Atiku’s supporters would not allow the former president’s opposition to derail their political plans ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
“We are determined that this opposition won’t affect Atiku’s campaign,” he said.
On concerns about Atiku’s age, Olarewaju argued that the debate should extend beyond the former vice president’s age of 79 to address deeper structural problems within Nigeria’s political system.
He said excessive concentration of power at the federal level had undermined the country’s federal structure.
“One of the biggest problems that we have in Nigeria is that the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not actually federal. That’s why we have so much power concentrated on Abuja, and over time it has continued to be a problem,” he said.
Olarewaju also rejected the view that Nigeria’s challenges could be explained solely by the alleged corruption or wickedness of its past leaders.
He argued that replacing one president with another without reforming the country’s governance structure would not fundamentally solve its problems.
“Anybody you put there, unless they go back to fixing the fundamentals, they will continue; we will continue to have the same problem,” he said.
The renewed disagreement between Obasanjo and Atiku comes as the former vice president remains active in opposition politics and continues to position himself for the 2027 presidential contest.
