Former President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan revealed on Friday that Boko Haram once put forward the late ex-President Muhammadu Buhari as their negotiator.
Jonathan said that Boko Haram selected Buhari to engage with the Nigerian government on their behalf when his administration established multiple committees to pursue dialogue with the group.
He made this revelation during the public launch of “Scars,” a book written by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), in Abuja.
“One of the committees we set up then, the Boko Haram nominated Buhari to lead their team to negotiate with the government.
“So I was feeling that, oh, if they nominated Buhari to represent them and had 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,” the former president said.
He stressed that the failure of Buhari to eliminate Boko Haram terrorists indicated that the issue was more complicated than it is often represented.