Former President Olusegun Obasanjo seems to have renewed his hostilities with ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

The duo who fell out in their second term between 2003 and 2007 later managed to reconcile.

During the heat of the crisis, both men were in and out of court and Obasanjo later criticised Atiku in his memoir.

However, they made up and Atiku even dined with Obasanjo at his hilltop mansion in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.

But in the buildup to the 2027 election, old wounds seems to have been reopened. It was Obasanjo who fired the first salvo, accusing of bribing late Speaker Ghali Na Abba to impeach him.

He also accused the South West governors who lost their reelection in 2003 of failing because they teamed up with Atiku.

The former number two man, who is one of the leading candidates in next year’s Presidential election, fired back at Obasanjo, saying while pretending to be rooting for Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the former President was actually paving a way for his kinsman.

Obasanjo and President Bola Tinubu, who is seeking reelection, are both from the South West.

In what appears to be a response to Atiku, Obasanjo, on Friday, said picking him as his running mate in the 1999 presidential election was the greatest mistake he made while in office.

The elder statesman spoke during a fireside chat with Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, at the unveiling of Charly Boy’s Foundation and his memoir, 999: A Memoir in Tribute to Late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa.

“What I have found in my own life is that what could have been all my life, mistakes that could have been fatal, God had taken care of them for me,” Obasanjo said while responding to a question on the biggest mistake he made as president.

Asked to mention one mistake in office, he said, “Mistake when I was in government. The man I picked as my running mate, my number two — if I had known him as I came to know him later, I would not have picked him.

“Are you talking about Atiku?” Charly Boy asked, to which Obasanjo responded: “My vice president. I don’t know what name you want to give him, but my vice president, I mean that.

“If I had known him as I came to know him later, I would not have picked him. Thank God his actions and reactions did not to overwhelm me or divert my own focus from Nigeria. There is no bitterness, he did things he believed he should do and God did things he needed to do which enabled me to achieve what I was able to achieve.”

Obasanjo also reflected on the Nigerian Civil War, rejecting suggestions that it amounted to genocide and insisting that the military campaign was aimed at preserving the country’s unity.

“The civil war was traumatic to all Nigerians. It hurt some maybe a little bit harder than others, depending on where, but the civil war was bad for all Nigerians,” he said.

According to him, he took deliberate steps during the war to minimise civilian casualties, citing the recapture of Owerri as an example.

“I did not drop a single bomb inside Owerri, because it would be destructive — it would have killed innocent civilians. I dropped my bombs short of Owerri and beyond Owerri, to warn people that we are coming home,” he said.