Obasanjo: Jonathan Thought Boko Haram Was Instigated By North To Stop His Presidency

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has spoken about the inaction of former President Goodluck Jonathan on the Boko Haram sect because he thought the insurgency was a device by the North to weaken his presidency...

He said Jonathan’s slowness in nipping it in the bud, led to its escalation.

“We did not do what we should have done when we should have done it. We left it to become a very intractable problem,” Obasanjo said while responding to questions in an interview with BBC.

The former president who was speaking on why it seems difficult for insurgency in Nigeria to end, pointed out that the issue was not nipped in the bud to prevent it from escalating.

Speaking further, Obasanjo said: “I went out in 2011 to Maiduguri. I took great risk to find out what was really happening.

Boko Haram terrorists, do they have grievances, if they have grievances, what are their grievances and I brought all that to Jonathan.

“Jonathan didn’t believe that Boko Haram was a serious issue. He thought that it was a device by the North to prevent him from continuing as president of Nigeria which was rather unfortunate.

“Even when Chibok girls were abducted, it took a while for the government to believe it. Now if that is the situation, you can understand why the right attention was not paid to the issue of Boko Haram when it should have been paid.

“Boko Haram will not be over. It started from a position of gross underdevelopment, unemployment, youth frustration in the Northeast. So we must be treating the disease not the symptom.”