I Can Never Support Atiku For President, May God Not Forgive Me If I Do – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that he can never support his earstwhile deputy, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s Presidential bid, due to Atiku’s unsavoury corruption perception, PREMIUM TIMES reports.

Obasanjo told the online news platform shortly after his arrival from Kigali on Friday afternoon.

Speaking on Atiku’s life long ambition to become president of Nigeria, Obasanjo said “How can I be on the same side with Atiku?” “To do what?”

“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,” he added.

The former president denounced insinuation that his statement may be a bit too personal considering the nearness to the 2019 general elections in Nigeria.

Atiku Abubakar recently formally launched his presidential campaign in his home State of Adamawa, where he promised to revamp the ailing economy in Nigeria, quell uprising in the parts of the country as well as position Nigeria for a brighter future.

“I do not have personal grudges with anyone,” Obasanjo said. “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.”

In making his position clear on Atiku Abubakar ahead of the presidential primaries in October, Obasanjo has put to rest several months of speculation about whether he would soften his borderline disposition to his former vice president of eight years.

“Most of you do not understand the way I operate,” Obasanjo said. “And I thought your own paper will understand better.”

“I know Atiku very well. And I have mentioned my position with Atiku. My position has not changed,” he said.

On a personal note, he added, “If my children are getting married, he has sent representatives. If his children are getting married, I have sent representatives. That is social. That is not political.

But “on political ground, my position has not changed. If I support Atiku for a political office other than the one I supported him in the past when I did not know him,” maybe, but not “now that I know him, God will not forgive me.”