Former President Goodluck Jonathan has disclosed that Boko Haram insurgents once selected his successor, Muhammadu Buhari, as their preferred representative in peace talks with the Federal Government.
Speaking on Friday at the unveiling of Scars a book authored by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), in Abuja, Jonathan explained that his administration had established multiple committees to explore dialogue with the sect.
“One of the committees we set up then, the Boko Haram nominated Buhari to lead their team to negotiate with the government,” Jonathan revealed.
He added that the group’s choice of Buhari made him believe peace would come once Buhari assumed office in 2015. “So I was feeling that, oh, if they nominated Buhari to represent them and have a discussion with the government committee, then when Buhari took over, it could have been an easy way to negotiate with them and they would have handed over their guns. But it was still there till today,” he said.
Jonathan noted that Boko Haram’s survival under successive administrations showed the crisis was “far more complex than it is often presented.”
He reflected on his own years in power, saying: “Boko Haram started in 2009 when I was vice president. I took over in 2010 and spent five years battling the insurgency until I left office. I thought that after I left, within a reasonable time, General Buhari would wipe them out. But even today, Boko Haram is still there.”
The former president described the 2014 abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls as “a scar I will die with,” adding that he hoped one day insurgent leaders would write their own accounts, similar to Civil War actors, to shed light on what truly motivated the group.
He dismissed the idea that hunger alone fuelled the insurgency. “If it was only about hunger—because we tried different options…I believe we did our best: we set up different committees and tried various approaches during the five years I was in office. I believe the late Buhari, too, must have tried his best,” he said.
Jonathan urged the current government to rethink its strategy. “The issue of carrots and the stick may be adopted, and yes, probably the needs are there, but if you look at the weapons they use, and you value the weapons, then you know that these are not hungry people,” he stressed.
According to him, Boko Haram’s access to sophisticated arms pointed to external involvement: “Sometimes they even have more ammunition than our soldiers. Where are these guns, sophisticated weapons coming from? And you begin to see that the external hands are also involved, especially when I was president.”
