Former President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed that Boko Haram insurgents once put forward former President Muhammadu Buhari to lead their negotiating team during dialogue efforts with the federal government whilst his administration explored non-military solutions to end the insurgency.
Jonathan made this disclosure on Friday at the public presentation of “SCARS: Nigeria’s Journey and The Boko Haram Conundrum”, a book written by former Chief of Defence Staff General Lucky Irabor, which took place at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.
Speaking candidly about his administration’s struggles with the insurgency, Jonathan described the 2014 abduction of schoolgirls from Chibok as an indelible mark on his presidency. “One of the major scars on my government is the scar of the Chibok girls. It is a scar that will die with me,” he stated.
The former president explained that his government established multiple committees to explore peaceful resolutions to the crisis, which had begun in 2009 before he assumed the presidency. “During one of such processes, the insurgents put forward Buhari to lead their team to negotiate with government,” Jonathan disclosed.
He expressed that when Buhari subsequently became president, he had anticipated this prior connection might facilitate dialogue with the insurgents and potentially lead to their surrender. “But the insurgency still persisted,” he noted.
Jonathan traced his involvement with conflict resolution to his time as vice-president under late President Umaru Yar’Adua, when he supported processes that successfully ended militancy in the Niger Delta. However, he emphasised that the Boko Haram crisis proved far more intractable.
“If you conduct research and interview many people, you will only get part of the story, but never the full story of Boko Haram. I was there. 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,” he said.
The former president acknowledged his initial expectation that his successor would swiftly eliminate the threat. “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 issue of Boko Haram is far more complex than it is often presented,” he observed.
Jonathan urged the current administration under President Bola Tinubu to employ a combination of incentives and force in tackling the insurgency. “The issue of carrots and the stick may be adopted,” he suggested.
Defending his government’s efforts, he said, “If it was only about hunger — because we tried different options — I don’t want to sound like I’m defending my government, but I believe we did our best: we set up different committees and tried various approaches during the five years I was in office.”
The former president raised questions about the insurgents’ access to weaponry, suggesting external involvement in sustaining the group. “Where are these guns and sophisticated weapons coming from? You begin to see that external hands are also involved,” he said.
Jonathan expressed hope that Boko Haram leaders might eventually document their motivations and actions to provide Nigerians with clarity. “I pray that, perhaps one day, the leaders of this group will be literate enough to write a book or come out to tell Nigerians what Boko Haram was all about,” he stated.
The Minister of Defence, Mohammed Abubakar Badaru, who represented President Tinubu at the event, described General Irabor’s book as “not only history; it provides guidance for the present and serves as a roadmap for the future”. He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to modernising the armed forces and strengthening intelligence capabilities and regional partnerships.
Distinguished attendees at the occasion included the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III; Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, who reviewed the book; Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Gwabin Musa; former National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno; General Alexander Ogomudia (retired); Vice Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba (retired); and Minister of Budget and National Planning Atiku Bagudu.
