Boko Haram chose Buhari as their representative for discussions — Jonathan

Goodluck Jonathan, the former President of Nigeria, stated that Boko Haram is not motivated by hunger, noting that the insurgents often possess more advanced weaponry than the Nigerian Army. He made these comments on Friday during the introduction of “Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum,” a book by retired General Lucky Irabor, a former Chief of Defence Staff.

Reflecting on previous attempts to address the insurgency, Jonathan mentioned that Boko Haram chose Muhammadu Buhari as their representative for discussions.

“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.

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He noted that the insurgency began in 2009 when he served as Vice-President under the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. “Even when I took over power in 2010 as president, I battled with it until I left office in 2015. I thought immediately I left, within a reasonable time, late President Muhammadu Buhari was going to wipe them out, but till today, Boko Haram is still here. So the issue of Boko Haram becomes more complex,” he added.

Jonathan urged the current administration to adopt a carrot-and-stick approach, stressing that the sophistication of the sect’s weapons points to external support.

“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. Sometimes the soldiers capture some of the weapons and see they are even better. The weapons they use, the ammunition they use, sometimes they even have more ammunition than our soldiers,” he said.