I was there when Obasanjo prostrated in Rivers State governor’s lodge, begging Atiku to allow him do a second term, in 2003.

“I was not told, I was there, myself, James Ibori and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. That is what Ibori went to jail for because they masterminded it.

“Atiku was the president of this country already, they did not want Obasanjo to do a second term, he prostrated and knelt down in Rivers State governor’s lodge in Abuja. I was not told. I saw him did and he has not denied it - Charles Idahosa (2019)

Obasanjo/Atiku/Governors Feud

In 2002/2003, the PDP was again divided following the power struggle between Mr. Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

The major cause of the crisis was the second term ambition of Mr. Obasanjo. His deputy was interested in succeeding his boss.

Mr. Atiku had become very powerful in their first term. He was not only overseeing the economy but also controlled the PDP structure. At the time, Mr. Obasanjo, a retired army general, was literally ruling from the air as he was always travelling abroad in search of elusive investments.

As a result, Mr. Atiku became close to the party’s governors and its other chieftains. The governors wielded enormous power thus making it possible for them to dictate the direction of the then ruling party.

Indeed, it was speculated that the former vice president who had strong political structure recommended Audu Ogbeh to the president to succeed Mr. Gemade as the PDP national chairman.

When Mr. Obasanjo, encouraged by some party chieftains, including Tony Anenih, suddenly realised he was gradually losing political influence to his deputy, he sought to take control of the party. By this time the 2003 general elections were drawing close.

To ensure he secured the party’s ticket, Mr. Obasanjo, literally “begged” the vice president and the governors led by former Delta Governor, James Ibori. After securing the ticket, the embittered president attempted to replace Mr. Atiku as his running mate. His effort was thwarted by the governors and some other prominent members of the party, some of who threatened to dump the party.

Some years later, Mr. Ibori, later convicted and jailed for fraud, told the media that his corruption problem started when he said Mr. Obasanjo was “not sellable, electable and marketable” in 2003.

The 1999 Constitution states explicitly that 13% shall be paid as derivation to constituent units for natural resources.

This payment to the oil-producing states should have started in May, 1999, but President Olusegun Obasanjo refused to implement it. In March 2000, I mobilized the Governors and Legislators of the South-South region to Asaba, the Delta State capital, to press for its implementation. At the end of that summit we issued a stern communique.

President Obasanjo who was compelled to pay in April that year deeply resented my outspokenness, and I entered his bad books for disagreeing with his policy of retaining a large chunk of the oil revenue at the centre.

Around November 2002, 15 of the 21 Governors from the PDP including me, had an ad hoc meeting at my lodge in Abuja to decide who should be nominated by the Governors Committee for election by PDP as the presidential nominee for the 2003 Election.

The Governors Committee decided almost unanimously to get a new candidate instead of President Obasanjo as the Committee was of the view that because of his military background, he was intolerant of dissent and had displayed very dictatorial and vindictive tendencies against those he perceived to be independent-minded and disloyal to him.

Immediately after the Governors meeting, I led the delegation of Governors to meet the then PDP Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, at his residence around 2 am.

As the leader of the delegation, I spoke and communicated the views of the Governors to the Chairman, which was that the Governors had decided not to support President Obasanjo as PDPs nominee for the 2003 General Election.

The party chairman tried to persuade us to review our decision but when he saw our resolve, he told us that he would inform the President. I was later informed by Chief Audu Ogbeh that after we left his house he put an urgent call to the President and informed him of our decision.

What then followed were intense consultations before the PDP annual convention which took place in January 2003. Two days before the party convention, the Governors had a breakfast meeting with President Obasanjo.

I recall that at that meeting, the then Vice President Alhaji Abubakar Atiku told the President in the presence of the Governors that he was known to be very dictatorial, vindictive and unforgiving. The President appealed to the Governors to support him and assured both the Governors and the party leadership that if he was allowed to continue for the second term, he would adopt a more democratic approach.

On the basis of the President's assurance, given at that breakfast meeting, I led the move for the Governors to support his presidential nomination for the second term. However, notwithstanding my support for President Obasanjo's nomination for a second term, the President after the nomination, acted very shabbily towards me.

When I met him soon after the convention, he told me that he had learned that I had put forward the view that he was unsellable, unmarketable and unelectable. He then vowed that he was going to make sure that I was unsellable, unmarketable and unelectable

Obasanjo, who was the chairman of the occasion at the book launch, gave the explanation to correct an aspect of the book where the author claimed that Atiku backed down before the primary poll.

Obasanjo said, “Again, Atiku did not back down as you claimed until Ekwueme was defeated at the primary of PDP in 2003 as Atiku’s agreement with Ekwueme was to be Ekwueme’s running mate and Ekwueme, as President, spending three years and resigning for Atiku to complete the fourth year and then for Atiku to contest election in his own right in 2007.

“It was after the result of the primary that Atiku backed down, if you put it that way, it was when there was no other choice.”

Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, was fighting for his political life last night as the ruling party considered dumping him and selecting one of his rivals to lead it in elections in April.

His allies spent yesterday lobbying key delegates at the People's Democratic party convention in the capital, Abuja, on the eve of a vote to choose a presidential candidate.

The president was behind closed doors for most of the weekend, horse-trading with the governors and party luminaries for the delegate votes to secure him a shot at a second term in office, which under the constitution would be his last.

Analysts predicted that these last-minute deals would stave off a challenge from Alex Ekwueme, who is considered the strongest of Mr Obasanjo's three rival candidates.

Mr Ekwueme, a former vice-president, was said to be backed by the country's army generals, a powerful political clique, as well as some governors from the Muslim north and the oil-producing south.

The reserved Ekwueme contended that the PDP convention was blatantly unfair; as in 1999, democracy and the will of the delegates had been hijacked by the influence of money, he lamented. His major allegation was that PDP chairman Audu Ogbeh consorted with the Obasanjo campaign by serially numbering the delegate ballots. Convention voting was to be conducted by secret ballot; however, by numbering the ballots, recording the numbered ballots given each state, then having the delegates vote in alphabetical order meant that any delegate's vote could be identified; at the very least, a state's collective vote could be determined. Ekwueme maintained that this procedure effectively eliminated the secrecy of the ballot. Coupled with blatant political threats by the Presidency, this caused many governors and hundreds of delegates to change their minds. People voted for Obasanjo because they feared the consequences, Ekwueme explained.

Ekwueme was correct that he appeared to be ahead early in the convention and that money, blandishments and political threats turned his once firm position into dust. However, numbered ballots were not his downfall. The change had taken place before then, on Saturday when VP Atiku let everyone know his lot was cast with Obasanjo. Atiku controlled the key governors who, in turn, controlled the delegates. With Atiku back in line, the vote would become a formality, the numbered ballots a form of unneeded insurance. Moreover, Ekwueme's accusations downplay some important facts. Ekwueme's campaign was not pristine. Credible reports indicate that his supporters were not above giving delegates money and making promises in exchange for support. If Ekwueme's team had possessed the tools of political intimidation, it probably would have used them. Ekwueme played the game but he simply could not play it as hard as Obasanjo; thus, it is insufficient to state that convention delegates succumbed to enticement and coercion.

Finally, Ekwueme acknowledged that his failure to persuade Atiku to abandon Obasanjo was a severe blow. He and Atiku passed messages several times during the convention, with Ekwueme offering Atiku the second spot on his ticket. At first, Atiku apparently wanted to run himself but was precluded because he never filed a nomination form, Ekwueme told the Ambassador. Atiku then seemed ready to explore teaming with Ekwueme. Denying press reports that he tried to seduce Atiku by pledging to retire in mid- term, Ekwueme said his desire would have been to resign from the Presidency around his 74th birthday (November 2006) with 5-6 months left in office. He would have done all he could by then, he offered. In stepping aside, he would make room for a smooth transition by making it clear he would not seek re-election. (Comment: No matter how the scheme is described or what motives are ascribed, the practical result of an early resignation would be Atiku ascending to the Presidency and running as the incumbent in 2007. There is no way around the fact that Ekwueme dangled the early retirement option to entice Atiku.

During an October 10 meeting with Ambassador Jeter, Vice President ATIKU Abubakar admitted his relationship with President Obasanjo was on the shoals, attributing the deterioration to Obasanjo's poor political skills and reliance on malevolent, imprudent advisors. ATIKU stated Obasanjo had alienated Ibrahim Babangida, former military ruler Abdulsalami Abubakar and NSA Aliyu Mohammed, the men most instrumental in Obasanjo's 1999 election. ATIKU disavowed supporting the impeachment drive but was not working to quash it. The Vice President claimed control of PDP party machinery, with only a small faction loyal to Obasanjo. He saw reconciliation with Obasanjo as unlikely. ATIKU spoke like a man fed up with a boss he considered unskilled in the calling that he has mastered. Candid about how his relationship with Obasanjo had soured, ATIKU did not reveal next steps, but gave the impression that he was both able and willing to contest for the Presidency.

Atiku stated that the relationship with Obasanjo assumed its current negative momentum in April, during preparations for Obasanjo's reelection announcement. Pointing the finger at Works and Housing Minister Tony ANENIH as the main culprit, Atiku accused Obasanjo's "handlers" of purposefully misinforming the President that he was angling to announce his presidential bid before Obasanjo's was
announced. Obasanjo came to believe these innuendoes when Atiku refused to participate in ANENIH's convoking of party figures at Obasanjo's farm in Ota to "request" that Obasanjo run again. Atiku contended that ANENIH attempted to keep him ignorant of preparations for Obasanjo's reelection announcement and tried to schedule the event when Atiku was abroad.

President Obasanjo's renomination is highly probable but not certain. The 3,349 delegates to the ruling PDP's national convention began voting around sundown, but the process could drag into Monday morning. On convention eve, the President's renomination seemed assured (Ref A). However, his strategy of alliance with the governors lost its legs when most Southeastern and South-South Governors turned on him. Other governors joined in. At one point, 16 of the 21 PDP governors were estimated to have shifted allegiance, with former Vice President Alex Ekwueme the beneficiary. By Saturday morning most observers gave Ekwueme the inside track. That entire day transformed into an endless stream of meetings in numerous locations, with key players moving about, facilely proposing deals and making promises to advance their interests. Alternatively cajoling and arm-twisting governors and delegates, Obasanjo slowly recovered ground. VP ATIKU Abubakar's decision not to jump ship stalled the rebellious governors' momentum.

Although the governors had decided to oppose the President, they had not by early Saturday morning decided whom to back. Some of them wanted to put two of their own number against the incumbents (an idea they had reportedly considered prior to the December 30 meeting). This concept never took hold because of disagreement over composition of the ticket. Also, it was clear that a role had to be found for Ekwueme. The governors then asked the VP to contest against Obasanjo, according to ATIKU's special advisor. The Advisor said ATIKU offered to take the governors' advice but only if they publicly and unequivocally called for ATIKU's candidacy before he left the President. The
advisor claimed the Governors' rejection of Obasanjo was driven by the President's unpopularity. They feared he would not only would lose his general election but would take them down with him. As of late Saturday, however, the advisor thought the governors would back Ekwueme and that he would win the nomination; to restore some party unity in the wake of a divisive fight, Ekwueme would name ATIKU as the Vice-Presidential candidate and ATIKU would accept.