BREAKING: Atiku, Obasanjo War Of Words Escalates Over Bribery Claims

The verbal war between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar rose to a higher gear yesterday with Atiku dismissing Obasanjo’s allegation that he bribed the Ghali Umar Na’Abba-led House of Representatives to get him impeached as President before the 2003 elections.

The allegation was contained in Obasanjo’s July 23 letter responding to former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba’s reflections on the 2003 elections, published in The Legal Observer on July 20 wherein he reflected on the frosty relationship between him and his former deputy.

In a statement issued yesterday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku alleged that the claims were revived to damage his reputation and bolster the political prospects of Obasanjo’s preferred candidate ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Atiku described Obasanjo’s allegation that he bribed the late former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, to facilitate his impeachment as baseless and unfair, particularly because the late lawmaker is no longer alive to respond.

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress said it is inappropriate to make serious allegations involving a deceased individual who cannot defend himself or clarify the circumstances surrounding the claims.

Atiku said: “As Africans, we understand the solemn duty of speaking truthfully about the dead. It is therefore deeply troubling that former President Obasanjo has chosen this moment to allege that I gave the late Rt. Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba a bribe to impeach him.

“If this allegation were true, why did he never make it while Rt. Hon. Na’Abba was alive? Why wait until the only man who could confirm or refute the claim has departed this world?

“By invoking a deceased man as the principal witness to such a grave allegation, former President Obasanjo has denied Nigerians the opportunity of hearing the other side of the story.”

The former vice president further argued that the allegation also casts doubt on the integrity of the late Na’Abba, who is no longer in a position to defend his reputation.

“The late Rt. Hon. Ghali Na’Abba cannot now defend his own integrity or respond to the allegation that he accepted a bribe. It is unfair to his memory and contrary to our cultural values to conscript the dead into contemporary political battles when they no longer have a voice,” the statement added.