Obasanjo criticised the 1999 decision to select Atiku as his running mate.

Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president, admitted on Saturday that choosing his running mate for the 1999 general election was a grave error.

However, Obasanjo emphasised that God had spared him from the error while making this statement during a leadership mentorship session with a select group of youths in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.

The audience knew the ex-president was alluding to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar even though he avoided specifically mentioning him by name.

After defeating the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme in the party’s primary held in February 1999, Obasanjo was chosen as the PDP’s presidential candidate for the election.

Later, he chose Abubakar, who had been elected governor of Adamawa State, as his running mate.

In that year’s presidential election, he defeated Chief Olu Falae of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and went on to rule the nation for eight years.

Before the end of their 2007 term, Obasanjo and Abubakar had a falling out.

The ex-president said: “One thing that has happened to me is that God has never disappointed me and that is very important. For instance, one of the mistakes I made was picking a number two when I was going to become president. But because it is a genuine mistake, God saved me from it.

“Some people thought it was a mistake for me to go into the army. It could have been a mistake or when Abacha wanted to arrest me, I was told by the American ambassador that they will arrest me and that America has asked I should be given asylum. I said, no.

“It could have been a mistake because I could have lost my life. So I will say, many things that could have been a mistake but God saved me from them all.”