2027: Grave not a witness box, Atiku accuses Obasanjo of using late Na’Abba for politics

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has responded to former President Olusegun Obasanjo over allegations that he bribed the late former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba, to orchestrate moves to impeach him while they were in office, accusing the former president of exploiting the memory of a deceased statesman for political purposes.

In a statement issued on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described Obasanjo’s claims as “a desperate attempt to rewrite history” and influence the political landscape ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Titled “The grave is not a witness box,” the statement argued that it was fundamentally unfair to make allegations involving Na’Abba after his death, when he could no longer respond or defend his reputation.

“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?” Atiku asked.

He added, “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 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 former vice president also questioned why no legal action was taken if the allegations were backed by evidence.

“If there was indeed evidence of any criminal conduct as alleged, Nigerians are entitled to ask why no action was taken at the time by a government that wielded the full powers of the Nigerian state,” he said.

Atiku further alleged that the timing of Obasanjo’s remarks was politically motivated, coming as political parties and aspirants begin positioning ahead of the 2027 general election.

“Coming at a time when the political landscape ahead of the 2027 general election is taking shape, the obvious objective is to besmirch my person and reputation and confer an undeserved political advantage on the former President’s kinsman. Nigerians, however, know better. They are too discerning to be distracted by stale allegations resurrected for political convenience.”

He also revisited the long-standing political rift between himself and Obasanjo, linking it to his opposition to the controversial third-term agenda during the latter’s administration.

“My offence was that I stood firmly against the unconstitutional third-term agenda. As a democrat, I chose the path of constitutionalism and the rule of law. Rather than surrender democratic principles on the altar of personal ambition, I defended the Constitution and successfully asserted my rights through the courts in a series of landmark legal victories against a sitting President.

“It is evident that the bitterness arising from that defining period has failed to leave former President Obasanjo,” he said.

Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the 2027 election said he would not be drawn into prolonged exchanges over events that occurred more than two decades ago while Nigerians grapple with pressing national challenges.

“The task before leaders today is not to rewrite history but to rescue the future. Nigerians are more interested in knowing why food prices continue to soar, why public debt continues to rise despite increased revenues, and why scandal after scandal continues to trail the current administration than in revisiting political disagreements from over two decades ago,” he said.

He added that while Obasanjo was free to endorse any presidential aspirant ahead of the 2027 elections, such support should be expressed openly.

“If former President Obasanjo has chosen to take a political position ahead of 2027, he should simply declare it and allow Nigerians to judge it on its merits, rather than attempting to influence public opinion through allegations that can no longer be tested because the principal witness is no longer alive.”

Atiku’s response came amid Obasanjo’s allegation that Atiku sponsored an impeachment plot against him during his first term and secretly worked with some political actors to prevent his re-election in 2003.

Obasanjo had on Thursday rejected former Ogun State Governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba’s account of the political events leading to the 2003 general elections, among other issues.

In a lengthy statement titled, “Reply to Your Inaccurate Posture: ‘How Obasanjo Deceived Us in 2003’,” the former President described Osoba’s article, published in The Legal Observer on July 20, as inaccurate, incomplete and “farfetched.”

Obasanjo insisted that Atiku masterminded an impeachment plot against him through the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, the late Ghali Na’Abba.

He claimed that the Vice-President invited Na’Abba to his office and allegedly gave him N5m to commence impeachment proceedings.

Obasanjo’s release partly read, “And that takes me to Na’Abba’s impeachment you glowingly talked about. And the way you wrote about it, talking about remorse would suggest stack ignorance on your part or being an accomplice. And both were possible.

“Na’Abba’s impeachment began at the presidency by the Vice-President, who on a Friday when I was out of the office, invited Na’Abba to his office and convinced him, as he had convinced himself and some others but of insignificant number, that I should have only one term as President and this was the act of a man I brought up from governorship to Vice-President.

“From the first day as Vice-President, he raised campaigners for his presidency. On the Friday, he invited Na’Abba; he gave him N5 million to begin his impeachment work. It was all noted, recorded and reported to me by my Chief of Staff, a professional intelligence officer.”