Just in: I deceived nobody — Obasanjo fires back at Osoba over 2003 ‘deception’ claim

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has strongly rejected claims by the former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, that he deceived Southwest leaders during the 2003 general elections.

Obasanjo issued the rebuttal in a detailed response letter dated July 23, 2026, titled “Reply to Your Inaccurate Posture: ‘How Obasanjo Deceived Us in 2003′”.

The exchange centered on the controversial 2003 political pact between Obasanjo’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Southwest-dominant Alliance for Democracy (AD).

Osoba and other Afenifere/AD leaders have maintained that they agreed to support Obasanjo’s 2003 presidential re-election under a gentleman’s agreement.

They alleged that Obasanjo breached this trust by deploying state apparatus and the police to sweep the AD out of power in five Southwest states, leaving only Bola Tinubu of Lagos State standing.

In his reaction, Obasanjo dismissed Osoba’s narrative—published recently in The Legal Observer—as “farfetched” and riddled with inaccuracies, omissions and misconceptions.

He countered that his political strategy was guided strictly by openness and national interest, emphasizing that no small group of regional governors could dictate terms to a sitting President backed by a robust national structure.

He said: “There are many things you got wrong and many things you omitted advertently or inadvertently in your write-up carried in The Legal Observer of July 20, 2026.

“Your presentation in your write-up was farfetched to put it mildly.”

Rejecting Osoba’s allegation of deceit, Obasanjo said: “I take strong and serious objection to your calling me a deceit because I deceived nobody.

“I always presented my case and all issues as I had them and as I understood them no matter whose ox is gored.”

According to the former president, Osoba was unaware of several political consultations and discussions that took place before he decided to return to active politics after his release from prison.

He disclosed that after his release from prison, several groups from across the country urged him to contest for the presidency, including delegations led by Lawan Katsina, the late Chief S.M. Afolabi and Chief Martins Kuye.

According to him, those consultations informed his eventual decision to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after extensive consultations with political leaders across the South-West, North and South-East.

Recalling his engagements with the late Afenifere leader, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Obasanjo said despite being repeatedly told that Yoruba people would not vote for him, he continued to maintain cordial relations with the elder statesman.

“There was no time I called on Papa Adesanya that I was not well entertained. Yet Papa stood on no vote for me, and I stood on my respect and what was due to him,” he stated.

The former President defended his decision to invite the AD into what he described as a broad-based national government after winning the presidency, saying it was motivated by a desire to promote national unity rather than political weakness.

“Bringing PDP and AD to join me for a sort of national government was not out of weakness; rather, it was out of strength and for the unity and progress of the country.”

Obasanjo also rejected Osoba’s account of events surrounding the attempted impeachment of then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’Abba, alleging instead that the impeachment plot originated from within his own administration.

He claimed that his then Vice-President had encouraged the move while simultaneously pursuing his own presidential ambition.

“The game continued to be played on with me treating it with contempt as I had committed no impeachable offence,” he wrote.

On 2003 elections, Obasanjo disputed Osoba’s suggestion that the defeat of AD governors resulted from political manipulation by the Presidency.

Instead, he maintained that the electoral outcome reflected the political realities at the time.

“Your loss or defeat in 2003 was genuine in all the six states except the one where the figures were successfully and murderously changed,” he asserted.

The former President further accused some AD leaders of embracing what he described as an anti-democratic political arrangement allegedly promoted by his Vice-President without verifying the claims with him.

𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖/𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕠 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖