Garba Shehu reacts to Jonathan’s claim on Boko Haram nominating Buhari as negotiator

Former presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, has refuted claims that late former President Muhammadu Buhari was ever nominated by Boko Haram as its negotiator.

Shehu clarified that neither the group’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf, nor his successor, Abubakar Shekau, ever made such a nomination.

Instead, he said the terrorist organisation consistently denounced and even threatened Buhari.

Ex-President Jonathan had revealed that Boko Haram insurgents once nominated former President Muhammadu Buhari to represent them in peace talks with the Federal Government.

Jonathan disclosed this on Friday at the public presentation of Scars, a book authored by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), in Abuja.

The former president said his administration had set up several committees to explore dialogue with the sect, adding that in one of such instances, the insurgents named Buhari as their preferred negotiator.

He added that, based on that, he felt it would have been easy for Buhari, when he emerged as president, to negotiate with the terrorists to surrender, but the insurgency persisted.

Jonathan stated, “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 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.”

Jonathan noted that the inability of Buhari to eradicate Boko Haram terrorists showed that the crisis was more complex than often portrayed.

Reacting to these assertions, Shehu described the claim as “false and misleading.”

He recalled that Buhari himself narrowly escaped a bomb attack on his convoy in Kaduna in 2014, an incident widely linked to the insurgents.

Shehu also pointed out that the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Buhari’s former party, publicly rejected the alleged nomination at the time.

The denial was issued in a statement by the then National Secretary, Engr. Buba Galadima, who stressed that Buhari had no knowledge of such an appointment.

According to Shehu, the speculation began when a Boko Haram faction, led by Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz, named Buhari and some northern elders as preferred mediators during a press conference in Maiduguri in 2012.

“Shekau himself disowned the claim and said Abdulaziz had no mandate to speak for the group,” Shehu added