Former President Goodluck Jonathan has described the 2014 abduction of Chibok schoolgirls as a permanent scar on his administration, while also revealing that Boko Haram insurgents once nominated former President Muhammadu Buhari to negotiate on their behalf with the federal government.
Jonathan, who spoke on Friday at the public presentation of Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), said he expected Buhari to have ended the insurgency since the group had indicated willingness to deal with him.
“One of the committees we set up then, Boko Haram nominated Buhari to lead their team to negotiate with government. So I felt that when Buhari became president, it could have been an easy way to make them surrender. But till today, Boko Haram is still there,” Jonathan said.
He admitted the insurgency defied all approaches under his leadership, stressing that Boko Haram’s survival proved the crisis was far more complex than widely assumed. He urged the current administration to adopt a “carrot-and-stick” strategy, noting that the insurgents’ access to sophisticated weapons suggested strong external backing.
Jonathan said: “It is a scar I will die with. I believe one day, some Boko Haram leaders may document their own accounts just like actors in the Civil War, so that Nigerians can understand what they truly wanted.”
Garba Shehu rebuts claim
But reacting sharply, former presidential spokesman Garba Shehu dismissed Jonathan’s claim as “false and mischievous.”
In a statement on Saturday, Shehu said no Boko Haram leader ever nominated Buhari as mediator, stressing that the late president was, in fact, a target of the insurgents.
“Shekau routinely denounced and threatened Buhari, and their ideologies were in direct opposition. In 2014, Buhari survived a bomb attack in Kaduna that was linked to Boko Haram,” Shehu stated.
He recalled that Buhari’s then party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), publicly denied reports of any nomination, with its secretary Buba Galadima insisting the general had never been contacted.
Shehu further accused Jonathan of attempting to shift blame, recalling that Jonathan himself once admitted Boko Haram had infiltrated his government.
“If this is a campaign statement towards his 2027 ambition, it is a false start,” Shehu declared.
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