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Obasanjo’s Ego As President Deflated, Knelt Before Atiku Not To Lose His Job, Soyinka

In August 2018, Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, said former President Olusegun Obasanjo “knelt” before ex-vice-president Atiku Abubakar in 2003.

Recall that the renowned playwright said Obasanjo begged Atiku in a bid to emerge as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer and run for re-election in the 2003 election.

Soyinka made the disclosure during the presentation of his book, ‘Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?: Gani’s Unfinished Business’, at Freedom Park, Lagos in 2018.

The playwright was quoted saying he warned Atiku that by allowing Obasanjo kneel before him, he would ultimately pay a heavy price.

Soyinka was reported to have said his warning came to pass when Atiku’s dramatic change of fortune began immediately Obasanjo was sworn in for a second term of office.

He said: “Before the PDP primaries in January 2003, Obasanjo got everyone he knew could reach me on the surface on the earth including Yemi Ogunbiyi and my son, to get me to help him intercede when it was clear that (Abubakar) Atiku was in a position to take his job. He knew Atiku had a lot of regard for me and calls me ‘Uncle’.

“The pressure was intense. Of course, I could not have knelt before Atiku not to embark on a course of action that would lead to his boss’ disgrace. But I can confirm to you that Obasanjo as President knelt down before Atiku so that he would not lose his job.

“But I warned Atiku that for making Obasanjo to kneel down for you, be sure you would have to pay heavily for that. I guess my warning came to pass if you remember Atiku’s dramatic change of fortune once Obasanjo was sworn in for a second term of office.”

Meanwhile, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State repeated the same claim on Friday at the flag-off of road construction in Port Harcourt.

Wike alleged that Atiku, as the vice-president, made Obasanjo kneel before him so that he could have a second term in the run-up to the 2003 election.

Wike stated, “You forget history. In 2002 and 2003, when President Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to run for a second term, a whole President knelt down before his deputy and said, ‘My vice, please allow me to run. You know one of the conditions he (Atiku) gave him? That Tony Anenih must be sacked as minister of works and that he must not be in the presidential campaign council. Obasanjo obliged.

This one, we are not even giving such conditions; we are saying give us the national chairman and you say, ‘No, we will not listen to you people, don’t give us conditions’. This is something touching on the foundation of the unity of the country.”

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