Atiku to Obasanjo: Don’t Use the Dead to Settle Political Scores

Former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar has strongly refuted allegations made by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, who claimed Abubakar attempted to bribe the late Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, to impeach him. Obasanjo alleged that Abubakar offered Na’Abba N5 million to start impeachment proceedings while Obasanjo was out of the country.

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As Africans, we understand the solemn duty of speaking truthfully about the dead. It is therefore deeply troubling that former President Obasanjo has chosen this moment to allege that I gave the late Rt. Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba a bribe to impeach him.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Abubakar described Obasanjo's claims as a desperate attempt to rewrite history and gain political advantage for his preferred candidate ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Abubakar questioned the timing of Obasanjo's accusations, pointing out that the former president never raised these claims while Na’Abba was alive to offer his side of the story.

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Na’Abba’s impeachment began at the presidency by the Vice-President, who on a Friday when I was out of the office, invited Na’Abba to his office and convinced him, as he had convinced himself and some others but of insignificant number, that I should have only one term as President and this was the act of a man I brought up from governorship to Vice President.

"As Africans, we understand the solemn duty of speaking truthfully about the dead. It is therefore deeply troubling that former President Obasanjo has chosen this moment to allege that I gave the late Rt. Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba a bribe to impeach him," Abubakar stated. He emphasized that by invoking a deceased man as the principal witness, Obasanjo denied Nigerians the opportunity to hear the complete narrative, unfairly tarnishing Na’Abba's memory.

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The late Rt. Hon. Ghali Na’Abba cannot now defend his own integrity or respond to the allegation that he accepted a bribe. It is unfair to his memory and contrary to our cultural.