Former presidential spokesman Garba Shehu has dismissed claims by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan that Boko Haram once nominated Muhammadu Buhari to negotiate with the Federal Government on its behalf.
Jonathan made the assertion on Friday during the public presentation of a book authored by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (rtd), titled Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum, held in Abuja.
He told attendees that during efforts by his administration to initiate peace talks with the insurgent group, Boko Haram reportedly selected Buhari, then a retired general and opposition leader, as its preferred negotiator.
“In one of the committees we set up to dialogue with them, Boko Haram nominated Buhari to lead their team to negotiate with the government,” Jonathan said.
He added that he believed Buhari’s eventual assumption of office in 2015 would have provided an opportunity to resolve the insurgency. “I thought that after I left, within a reasonable time, General Buhari would wipe them out. But even today, Boko Haram is still there,” Jonathan said.
However, reacting in a post on his official X account, Shehu, who served as Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the late President Buhari, described the claim as false and politically motivated.
“Boko Haram did not nominate Buhari as their mediator. To be president in 2027, Goodluck Jonathan should look for another story to tell Nigerians,” Shehu stated.
He added that Boko Haram’s leadership never expressed affinity with Buhari, but instead issued threats against him. “In fact, Shekau routinely denounced and threatened Buhari, and their ideologies were in direct opposition,” he said.
Citing a 2012 statement by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Shehu recalled that the party, then led by Buhari, had publicly denied reports of his alleged nomination by the insurgents.
He quoted the CPC’s National Secretary at the time, Buba Galadima, as saying that Buhari “was not aware of the appointment,” while the party’s then National Publicity Secretary, Rotimi Fashekun, described the reports as a political ploy to divert attention from corruption under the then PDP-led government.
Shehu also referenced the 2014 assassination attempt on Buhari in Kaduna, where a bomb explosion targeted his convoy, injuring some of his aides.
“Buhari’s campaign focused on fighting Boko Haram and restoring security to Nigeria. Linking him to the group is both untrue and unfair,” Shehu said.
Jonathan, while reflecting on the broader context of the insurgency, admitted that the conflict was more complex than initially assumed and called for a combination of military and non-military strategies by the current administration.
The former president also described the 2014 abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls as a personal tragedy, saying: “It is a scar I will die with.”
