I Thought I Knew President Buhari – Obasanjo Lament

Nigerian former President Olusegun Obasanjo has stated that he thought he knew Buhari but everything changed after he became the president in 2015. Obasanjo stated that he thought Buhari would have done well in securing Nigeria and fighting corruption.

He stated that it is worrisome that terrorism and kidnapping is happening in the north-west region of the country where the President hails from. And now it has migrated to the south west and south east region of the country.

Obasanjo, in a heart filled with sorrow, asked the president to wake up and fight terrorism and other sundry crimes especially in the northern, western and eastern part of the country. The ex-president, who spoke on Sunday in a virtual interview with academic and historian, Toyin Falola, said Buhari should start thinking of leaving an enduring legacy as president instead of destroying his name.

According to his words; “I thought I knew President Buhari because he worked with me. But I used to ask people that is it that I have not read him well or read him adequately or is it that he has changed from the Buhari that I used to know? I am not subscribing to the people who say we have a new Buhari from Sudan and all that nonsense.

“I know what I believed was his limitations and I have written about it, he wasn’t strong in economics, not all of us are strong in anything but you need to have sufficient knowledge of it for you to direct the affairs. He wasn’t particularly too strong in foreign affairs but I thought he was strong enough in the military.

“From his performance in his first outing as head of state, I thought he would also do well in fighting corruption. I did not know the nepotistic tendencies of President Buhari maybe because he was not exposed to that sort of situation when he worked with me.

“But with what I have seen now, I believe that maybe he will be thinking of a legacy. Maybe he will also learn from what has happened in recent times. If you are the commander-in-chief and terrorism is taking place in your backyard, then you have to wake up.”

The ex-president also stated that some governors are now in a state of hopelessness because of the president’s way of handling the insecurity in the country. The security challenges in the country have assumed a more concerning dimension in recent times as rampaging bandits, bloodthirsty insurgents and ransom-demanding kidnappers terrorize Nigerians with daring audacity. The ex-president expressed his disappointment on the current administration led by Muhammadu Buhari, especially on the banning of Cryptocurrency in Nigeria by the Central Bank. Obasanjo urged Buhari to retract the ban on Cryptocurrency and focus more on insecurity which is making the country uncomfortable.

Austine Ikeru
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