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It is no news that Atiku and Obasanjo are not in good terms. They were once numbers one and two in Nigerian political history, but they have not been able to get rid of the wall of separation that had existed between them for years now. In a recent interview granted to newsmen, Atiku declared that he does not care at all whatever Obasanjo might say about him. It would be recalled that Obasanjo recently made some incisive comments about the personality of Atiku Abubakar as well as the latter’s political past. However, Atiku declared he was not bothered in the least about whatever the former president might have written about his personality, his political past and political future.

Obasanjo made some points in his recent book titled “My Watch” that cannot be termed as complimentary at all about Atiku Abubakar. In the book, Obasanjo said he was responsible for scuttling the presidential ambition of his former vice. However, in his reply to Obasanjo’s claim, Atiku declared that whatever Obasanjo did had no impact whatsoever on his political prospect, either in the past or in the future. Atiku declared that he believed the force behind his unfulfilled presidential ambition was none other than that of God. In his words, Atiku said “if God says I will be president then I will be president; if He says I will not be president, I will not be president”. He urged the newsmen to forget about issues relating to Obasanjo and discuss other things.

It would be recalled that Atiku ran with former president Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 under the umbrella of the People’s Democratic Party. The two of them also ran together when Obasanjo sought for reelection in 2003 for a second term as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. At the tail end of his second term in office as president of the federation, things started falling apart between the former president and his vice. Things got so bad that the former president stopped involving his vice in matters relating to the State. News had it then that Atiku would just sit in his office all day waiting for words from his superior to no avail. It will also be recalled that officials of the People’s Democratic Party tried all they could to settle the rift to no avail.

Atiku Abubakar had attempted severally to become president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and vied for the office on the platforms of a number of political parties, but he could not achieve his aim. He was the presidential flag bearer for Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011, but he was beaten hands down by the PDP presidential flag bearer, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. He attempted to contest again in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC), but he could not muster enough votes to emerge the flag bearer of the APC, a slot that fell to Mohammadu Buhari, who went ahead to win the general election. Obasanjo claimed he was the unseen hand behind Atiku Abubakar’s presidential ambition woes, but the latter thinks the forces behind his fate are higher than Obasanjo.