I argued with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about that, and what drove me to argue with him so persistently was nothing other than the fact that it never settled in my heart that people would ever love a man who stood in his place after him. I felt certain that no one would take his place without people regarding him as a bad omen, so I wanted the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to direct that duty away from Abu Bakr.
لقد راجعت رسول الله ﷺ في ذلك، وما حملني على كثرة مراجعته إلا أنه لم يقع في قلبي أن يحب الناس بعده رجلا قام مقامه أبدا، وإلا أني كنت أرى أنه لن يقوم مقامه أحد إلا تشاءم الناس به فأردت أن يعدل ذلك رسول الله ﷺ عن أبي بكر.
Bukhari reported it in the Book of Military Expeditions (4445) and Muslim in the Book of Prayer (418:93), both of them through Layth bin Saad, who said, Aqeel bin Khalid told me, who said, Ibn Shihab said, Ubaydullah bin Abdullah bin Utba bin Masud told me, that Ayesha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, said, and then she mentioned it.