Ex-President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has said the alliance of his former deputy, Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, with the late Alex Ekwueme, during the 2003 presidential primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), collapsed after Ekwueme lost at the poll.
Obasanjo revealed this on Thursday at the public presentation of ‘Amazing Grace’, a biography of former Oyo State Governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, in Ibadan, Oyo state.
He was correcting a part in the book, where the author claimed Atiku backed down before the primary poll.
“Again, Atiku did not back down as you claimed until Alex Ekwueme was defeated at the primary of PDP in 2003.
“Atiku’s agreement with Ekwueme was to be Ekwueme’s running mate and Ekwueme, as President, spending three years and resigning for Atiku to complete the fourth year and then for Atiku to contest election in his own right in 2007.
“It was after the result of the primary that Atiku backed down, if you put it that way, it was when there was no other choice,” Obasanjo said.