Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria, and his second in command during his administration, Atiku AAbubakar buried the hatchet on Thursday. Who would have thought that Obasanjo would ever endorse a man he had called a number of unprintable names and even vowed never to forgive?


Here are a few nasty things Obasanjo previously said about Atiku when their relationship was sour.

GOD WILL NOT FORGIVE ME IF I SUPPORT ATIKU

Obasanjo, who is now fond of dropping God’s name in any conversation, perhaps for his newly acquired doctorate in Christian Theology, said just two months ago that God would not forgive him if he ever supports Atiku for "anything".

“How can I be on the same side with Atiku? To do what?” Obasanjo had asked.


“If I support Atiku for anything, God will not forgive me. If I do not know, yes. But once I know, Atiku can never enjoy my support. I do not have personal grudges with anyone. If you do not do well for Nigeria, you do not do well for all of us.


“It is not a question of working with or not working with an individual,” he said. “If you are working for the good of Nigeria, I am working with you. If you are not working for the good of Nigeria it does not matter who you are I am not working with you.”


With the former President’s declaration of allegiance to Atiku on Thursday, can we say the octogenarian is ready for the wrath of God? Or has God spoken to him again and asked him to forgive his former second-in –command? Has God washed Atiku clean of his myriad sins with something close to hyssop and the man now divinely absolved of his misdeeds?



MY POSITION ABOUT ATIKU WILL NEVER CHANGE


The Ota farmer once said his stance on Atiku was carved in stone and there was no way he would reconsider it. The retired general claimed when it comes to political issues, he and Atiku were like day and night.


“Most of you do not understand the way I operate and I thought your own paper will understand better," he told Premium Times. "I know Atiku very well. And I have mentioned my position with Atiku. My position has not changed."


A SHAMELESS LIAR

In his book, 'MY WATCH', Olusegun Obasanjo criticised Atiku, who had earlier accused his former boss of trying to tinker with the constitution in the twilight of their administration to secure life presidency. He called his former lieutenant "a blatant and shameless liar". Obasanjo said: "Those who can be regarded as influential and who publicly accused me of allegedly manipulating a third term were Atiku Abubakar who is a blatant and shameless liar who was behind the episode of turning wholesome constitutional amendment efforts of the National Assembly to a futile exercise as a means of riding on its ashes to be a Nigerian President”.


Is not logical to say Obasanjo and Atiku share the same strain for lying, now that Baba Iyabo has now welcomed Atiku back in his political fold? Perhaps what Atiku said about him was true after all.


ATIKU IS A THIEF

In that same memoir, Obasanjo spoke about how he embarked on spiritual exercise, fasting and praying together with his chaplain, Revd (Dr.) William Okoye, for 30 days, for God to reveal his successor to him. According to him, Atiku’s name was on the list they put before God for consideration. And just in the nick of time when he almost endorsed Atiku to succeed him, his record of financial malfeasance was exposed by the EFCC.
And he had no choice but to jettison the idea of Atiku’s presidency.



"Atiku Abubakar’s name was among names sent to us. Up to that time EFCC had enjoyed a close cooperation and collaboration with law enforcement agencies in the UK and the USA. I gave the green light to Nuhu for the investigation as requested by the authorities and forwarded his report to the USA. The report was uncomfortable and unsavoury about Atiku and his associates,” Obasanjo had said.


MOST DISLOYAL HUMAN BEING


In the lead-up to his endorsement of Atiku, SaharaReporters gathered that Obasanjo had told his close associates that Atiku was "a most disloyal human being"; however, the former President added that he would "support anything that can remove Buhari from power".


The 2019 presidential election will soon be here, then we'd see if this endorsement would have contributed to Buhari's ouster from power.