Buhari’s widely perceived lacklustre approach and response to critical national issues was particularly disturbing …
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a fierce critic of the present government, has said he does not concede to the opinion of some Nigerians that a purported impostor described as ‘Jibrin from Sudan’ has been disguising and appearing as President Muhammadu Buhari.
Obasanjo, however, said he believes there is something not right about his distant successor.
Leader of the proscribed secessionist group (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has repeatedly stoked up narratives about President Buhari’s surrogate from Sudan, on his propaganda broadcast channel, Radio Biafra.
Kanu had insisted that ‘Jibrin’ was transformed to resemble and replace President Buhari, whom he claimed had died in a London hospital.
The conspiracy theory resonated amongst thousands of followers of the Biafra group, who reckoned that the president now looked younger and healthier in his public appearances after his protracted stay in a London medical facility.
Obasanjo, in a virtual interview with prominent academic Toyin Falola on Sunday, said, “I’m not subscribing to the people who say we have a new Buhari from Sudan or something, or that nonsense.”
He, however, maintained that Buhari’s widely perceived lacklustre approach and response to critical national issues was particularly disturbing, as his estimation of the president’s abilities (having worked with him during the military era) was fairly impressive.
“I thought I knew President Buhari because he worked with me. And I use to ask; is it that I had not read him well or read him adequately?
“Or is it that he has changed from the Buhari that I used to know?” Obasanjo said while fielding questions on the turn of events under the Buhari administration.
Obasanjo noted that although he was aware of the president’s deficiency in the knowledge of economics and foreign affairs, he had thought that Buhari’s heroics in the military could be useful in tackling corruption, insecurity and other strains that have left the country’s economy hamstrung.
“I did not know the nepotic tendencies of President Buhari. Maybe because he was not exposed to that sort of situation when he worked with me,” Obasanjo added.
The former Nigerian President also urged Buhari to wake up to his responsibilities if he had any intention of leaving a legacy for the future.
