Former President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed claims that he accused late former President Muhammadu Buhari of having ties with the Boko Haram insurgency.
Ikechukwu Eze, the former president’s communications assistant, clarified the situation in a statement.
Recall that Goodluck Jonathan stated that Boko Haram had named Buhari as a mediator during his tenure in his remarks on Friday at the book launch of former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Lucky Irabor in Abuja.
The comments had triggered backlash and criticism of the former president especially from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Former presidential spokesman Garba Shehu in response to Goodluck initial claims stated yesterday that, contrary to what former President Jonathan claimed, Boko Haram did not designate the late former President Muhammadu Buhari as their mediator.
To clear the air, Goodluck Jonathan through his media aide said, “The attention of the Office of Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has been drawn to misleading reports circulating in sections of the media suggesting that Dr. Jonathan alleged that Boko Haram nominated the late President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, to represent them in dialogue with the Federal Government, and therefore this made him somehow complicit in the Boko Haram crisis,” the statement read.
Eze further clarified that Jonathan “at no time did … suggest, imply, or insinuate that President Buhari had any connection with Boko Haram or that he supported the group in any form.”
The former president said that his comments at the event were intended to illustrate “the deviousness and manipulative strategies employed by Boko Haram in their early years” and were part of a larger reflection on Nigeria’s security concerns.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan added that his reference was to a well-documented episode when “various individuals and factions falsely claimed to represent the terrorist group and purported to name prominent Nigerians as possible mediators, without those individuals’ knowledge or consent.”
“The Office of the Former President therefore urges the public to disregard any misinterpretation of his remarks. Dr. Jonathan remains committed to peace, unity, and the strengthening of democratic values in Nigeria. He believes that the nation’s progress depends on a truthful understanding of its challenges, not on the distortion of facts for political or sensational purposes,” it added.
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