Your 20yr campaign of lies against me is falling apart — Atiku replies Obasanjo
By Precious Mark
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election, Atiku Abubakar, has said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s 20-year campaign of lies, political manipulation and orchestrated deceit against him is falling apart.
Atiku’s media office made this known in a statement on Sunday.
According to the statement, the former Vice President said Obasanjo’s allegation of July 23 that his former deputy mobilized the late Speaker, Rt. Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba, to impeach him has collapsed.
The office said Obasanjo chose to make a man who died nearly three years ago the subject of his allegation knowing Na’Abba could not respond.
It cited former Chief Whip of the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2007, Hon. Abubakar Bawa Bwari, who said Na’Abba never sought Obasanjo’s removal and that Atiku instead acted as Obasanjo’s envoy to lawmakers.
The statement also addressed the narrative that Obasanjo knelt for Atiku to secure support for a second term. It said it was a deliberate effort to portray Atiku in bad light, noting that, “In Yoruba land, it is a deep cultural taboo and a profound inversion of norms for an elder to kneel down or prostrate for a younger person.”
It also referenced a 2003 video of former Abia Governor, Senator Orji Kalu, who said it was Atiku who knelt before PDP governors to pledge loyalty to Obasanjo.
“Atiku knelt down, we were like 17 governors. He knelt down for us and said that he does not want to be disloyal to Obasanjo. That four years is like four days,” Kalu said in the video.
According to Kalu, PDP governors were planning to upstage Obasanjo because of his dictatorial tendencies and had made arrangements to make Atiku president.
“Atiku was almost a President. We had gotten everyone to postpone the (PDP) Convention and had gotten what we needed to move forward. But he (Atiku), said this man (Obasanjo) trusted him, and gave him the opportunity to work with him. That he cannot betray Obasanjo,” Kalu was quoted as saying.
The office further recalled that ahead of the 2007 election, Obasanjo wrote to the Senate to investigate Atiku over alleged diversion of Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, funds.
The office said Atiku temporarily vacated his immunity and presented himself for the probe, insisting the funds were safe in fixed deposit accounts and that the charges were politically motivated to truncate his presidential run because of his opposition to Obasanjo’s Third Term agenda.
The statement also cited the autobiography of the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, titled Awujale. The monarch alleged that Obasanjo used the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, under Nuhu Ribadu to hound Globacom Chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga, in a bid to nail Atiku for diversion of PTDF funds.
“The EFCC in Lagos had come calling brusquely on Mike Adenuga (Jnr), Chairman Globacom on 9 July 2006. They broke his gate, swarmed into his house and kept him under arrest. When I heard about the arrest, I called the legal firms of Ayanlaja SAN & Adesanya SAN as well as Professor Biodun Adesanya SAN to take up the matter and secure Mike’s release. They swung into action and gave every indication that they would take the matter to court,” Oba Adetona wrote on page 185,” the book read.
He added that by evening Adenuga had been released with instructions to report regularly to EFCC headquarters in Abuja.
“Indirectly related to this case (PTDF), the EFCC had quizzed and released Mohammed Babangida, Ibrahim Babangida’s son,” the book stated.
Oba Adetona said Obasanjo was trying to use Adenuga to rope Atiku into the PTDF issue. “EFCC purportedly were on the trail of some money belonging to the Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF), but there was really more beneath the veneer.”
The book noted that Obasanjo alleged Atiku gave Adenuga money from PTDF funds to pay for Globacom’s licence, but public record showed Adenuga secured a loan from BNP Paribas Bank paid through New York with which he paid for the licence.
Oba Adetona also wrote that Obasanjo, “who is quick to point accusing fingers at others, is not only corrupt but also a hypocrite.” He said shortly after the arrest of Adenuga, Obasanjo called him to a social event in Lagos, Engr. Olapade’s birthday celebration, where both were photographed.”
“Following the celebration, Obasanjo asked Mike to accompany him to Ota. It was in Ota that he (Obasanjo and while he was still President) solicited for the construction of the Administration Block of his university, Bells University in Ota. Mike agreed and Cachez Turnkey Projects Ltd handled the project for him.”
The monarch said Adenuga was forced into exile in London because Obasanjo was using EFCC to harass him. He added that when Obasanjo left office, Adenuga returned to Nigeria at his prompting.
“However, the construction project at Bells University slowed considerably while Mike was in exile and a few solicitous calls from Obasanjo to Mike while he was in exile did not change the pace of work. On his return from exile, the school, Bells University, had the temerity to write to him seeking for a meeting to discuss the continuation of the project. When I got to know, I offered to be in attendance at the meeting and sent word round that I would be in attendance. I had the intention to lambast all of them. They must have sensed it because up till now, the meeting has not been held!”
“Thereafter, Mike returned home. Nobody touched him and no institution has prosecuted him till date because there was no genuine reason from the onset for anybody to touch him,” the book concluded.