Obasanjo reveals that Boko Haram grew because Goodluck dismissed it as a northern ploy

FORMER president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that the Boko Haram insurgency grew because one of his predecessors Dr Goodluck Jonathan did not treat it with the seriousness it deserved as he thought it was just a northern ploy to destabilise his government.

Since 2009, Boko Haram has been waging an insurgency against the Nigerian state and during the tenure of Dr Jonathan between 2010 and 2015, the sect was at its zenith. At one stage, it controlled 14 local government areas in Borno State and was threatening to take over the capital Maiduguri.

Speaking in Lagos yesterday, Chief Obasanjo noted that Dr Jonathan did not take the insurgency seriously in the belief that the terror group was a device by the north to torpedo his government. He added that the war against the Boko Haram insurgency has remained intractable, noting that the country needs to treat the root of the problem and not the symptoms

Chief Obasanjo said: “I went to Maiduguri in 2011, taking a great risk to find out what is really happening. Boko Haram, 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.”

He observed that Boko Haram insurgency might not end soon, noting that it stemmed from underdevelopment, unemployment and youth frustration in the northeast. According to Chief Obasanjo, the government also failed to take the abduction of the Chibok girls seriously when it happened.

“Even when the Chibok girls were abducted, it took a while for the government to believe. 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 as it started from a position of gross under-development, unemployment and youth frustration in the northeast. So, we must be treating the disease not the symptom,” Chief Obasanjo submitted.