The former President Olusegun Obasanjo has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to wake up to his responsibility by fighting banditry in his backyard and start thinking of leaving an enduring legacy.

Obasanjo made this charge on Sunday in a virtual interview with Toyin Falola, an academic and historian.

 He said “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 banditry is taking place in your backyard, then you have to wake up.”

He added that some governors are now in a state of hopelessness because of the way the President handles insecurity in the country.

The ex-president further noted that “Recently, the president changed his service chiefs after they have been there for more than five years without any perceptible improvement and some people started rejoicing.

“Somebody spoke to me and said, ‘Oh, you are not enthused’, and I said, ‘I am not’. The person said, ‘Why?’ And I said I don’t know any of those people that have been appointed as service chiefs but you will hear my comments three to six months from now because within that period, we should be able to show what they can do. And if they cannot bring about any perceptible change or improvement then you can write them off as failures.”

In his final remark, Obasanjo advised the Buhari’s administration to better equip the security forces and provide them with the right motivation for them to succeed.