This is the story of how former President Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo and former Vice President, Turaki Atiku Abubakar, first met, and how their relationship blossomed before nose-diving over political ambition. In his soon-to-be released auto-biography, ATIKU ABUBAKAR, THE STORY OF MY LIFE, Sunday Vanguard discovered that whereas Obasanjo appointed Atiku as his running mate in 1999, there are pieces of information before that fact to suggest that the former may indeed be indebted to the latter. This is an exclusive report.
Atiku and Obasanjo
He was arrested on March 13, 1995. But before Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo was picked up that day, he had beenforewarned. It was the second meeting between one Atiku Abubakar, then known as apolitician who made massive waves during theSocial Democratic Party, SDP, presidential primaries held in Jos, the Plateau State capital – the SDP primaries took place in March, 1993, some two years earlier.
That day, Atiku (who is one of the few Nigerians identified by their first name) visited Obasanjo at his Temperence Farm, Otta, Ogun State, in the company of Oyewole Fasawe, a mutual friend and business partner of both men. They were there to forewarn Obasanjo about a possible impending arrest in connection with a coup plot.
In a rare snippet by Sunday Vanguard into the soon-to-be-released autobiography of Atiku, it was found that, contrary to the generally held belief that prior to the politicking of 1998/1999 which produced the presidency of Obasanjo/Atiku, both men had never been close; it came to light that their relationship dated back to 1993. In the book, ATIKU ABUBAKAR, THE STORY OF MY LIFE, Sunday Vanguard discovered that Atiku had, indeed, gone to the same Otta for avuncular consultation with Obj,as Obasanjo is fondly called.
Just some weeks before the landmark June 12,1993, presidential election, Atiku, who withdrew at the last minute in the run-off primaries to allow for Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola gather some gravitas against Babagana Kingibe, visited Obasanjo. His request was simple: “Please prevail on my boss, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, to support the presidential bid of Abiola at the general election”.
Although Sunday Vanguard could not confirm whether Obasanjo indeed prevailed on the elder Yar’Adua to support Abiola, Obasanjo’s statement during the crisis that trailed the disputation over the election, to the effect that “Abiola is not the messiah” betrayed the workings of the mind of the former President.
The second meeting between both men, according to the book on pages 247 – 248, is reproduced, verbatim, here: “The United StatesAmbassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, picked up the information on Obasanjo’s impending arrest. He immediately alerted the former Head of State who was attending the UN social summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Obasanjo returned to the country, confident that he had not committed any crime.
Atiku had also been tipped off about Obasanjo’s impending arrest. “He went to the retired General’s farm in Otta, Ogun State, to alert him. He had hardly finished speaking to Obasanjo when the divisional police officer in Ota arrived with some plain-clothes security officers to arrest Obasanjo. “What has he done? What is his offence? Is this the way to pay him back for the services to the country?”
Oyewole Fasawe, who was with him at Otta, emembered Atiku asking the security agents as they led Obasanjo away. “I had never seen Atiku so angry as he was that day. He was ready to fight them if we had not restrained him”, Fasawe recounted. Atiku and Fasawe leftOtta to break the news of Obasanjo’s arrest to many prominent Nigerians. “Obasanjo’s arrest and detention brought closer international attention to the reign of terror in Nigeria”.
Obasanjo was tried for being part of the coup plot against the maximum dictator of the time, General Sani Abacha; he was sentenced to life in prison. Owing to international pressure, thiswas later commuted to 15 years – the pressure came from friends abroad, including South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, former US President, Jimmy Carter, and former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.
After his sentencing, Obasanjo was taken to the SSS (now Department of State Services, DSS)Interrogation Centre in Ikoyi. From there, he was moved to KIRIKIRI Maximum Security Prison alongside Shehu Musa Yar’Adua.
But something happened there as you would discover later. Mind you, the recent controversyover character, leadership and integrity was ignited by Obasanjo at the 4th Annual Ibadan Sustainable Development Summit organised bythe Centre for Sustainable Development of the University of Ibadan, an engagement in collaboration with the African Sustainable Development Network ,continues from http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/08/the-story-of-olusegun-obasanjo-and-atiku-abubakar/