Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has renewed criticism of his former deputy and 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, describing him as the biggest mistake he made as a Nigerian leader.

Mr Obasanjo spoke during a fireside conversation with entertainer, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, at the public presentation of Charly Boy’s foundation and a memoir, “999: The Memoir of Charly Boy,” in Lagos on Friday.

“You are asking for my biggest mistake when I was the president. The man I picked as my running mate, I wouldn’t have picked him if I had known what I knew about him now,” the former president stated.

He added, “What I have found in my own life is that mistakes that could have been fatal, God had taken care of them for me. My vice president. I don’t know what name you want to give him, but my vice president, I mean that.”

Mr Obasanjo further acknowledged his mistake, adding that his decision neither divert his focus from Nigeria nor harm the country.

“Thank God that God did not allow his actions and reactions to overwhelm me, divert my focus from Nigeria or harm Nigeria,” he noted.

The ex-president, however, clarified that he did bear any grudges with Mr Abubakar despite their tumultuous political relationship.

“There’s no bitterness because he did what he believed he should do, and God did what God had to do, which enabled me to achieve what I was able to achieve,” Mr Obasanjo added.

This was not the first time Mr Obasanjo would disparage Mr Abubakar. In 2022, the former president said he made the grave mistake of picking the former vice president as his running mate in 1999 but God saved him. He also criticised him in his three-volume autobiography, My Watch.”

Messrs Obasanjo and Abubakar were elected on a joint ticket on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in 1999. They fell out after the latter tried to succeed his principal in his second term but they eventually both served out the eight years.

Though attempts were made to reconcile them over the years, the portrayal of Mr Abubakar as a corrupt politician by Mr Obasanjo continues to dent their relationship.