BOKO HARAM NEVER NOMINATED MUHAMMADU BUHARI AS MEDIATOR, FORMER OFFICIALS DEBUNK JONATHAN’S CLAIM

Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s claim that Boko Haram nominated Muhammadu Buhari as their mediator in talks with the federal government has been dismissed as false by former officials and political associates of Buhari. In a statement, Former Presidential Spokesman Garba Shehu strongly rebutted Jonathan’s assertion, saying “Mr. Jonathan, you are making a false start” if intended as a campaign narrative for 2027.

Garba Shehu emphasized that neither Muhammed Yusuf nor Abubakar Shekau, deceased leaders of Boko Haram, ever nominated Buhari for such a role. “In fact, Shekau routinely denounced and threatened Buhari, and their ideologies were in direct opposition,” Shehu noted, pointing to Buhari’s escape from a Boko Haram bomb attack in Kaduna in 2014 as evidence of the group’s hostility toward him.

The claim appears to stem from a press conference staged in Maiduguri by a purported Boko Haram commander, Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz, who named Buhari among preferred mediators – a move condemned by Boko Haram leaders as unauthorized. Buhari himself denied knowledge of the nomination through his party’s then National Secretary, Engr Buba Galadima, who said in a statement “As at 10pm yesterday (Thursday) when I spoke with him, he said he has not even heard about it”.

Rotimi Fashekun, late CPC national publicity secretary, criticized Jonathan and the PDP for exploiting the narrative politically, calling Buhari’s purported nomination “the latest gambit in the desire of this organically corrupt PDP-led Federal Government in diverting the attention of the unsuspecting Nigerian public”. Fashekun stressed Buhari’s patriotism and opposition to insurgency, accusing the PDP of fueling insecurity. “Without any scintilla of equivocation, General Muhammadu Buhari has never been directly or remotely connected with any insurrection or insurgency against the Nigerian nation and her people,” Fashekun said.

Garba Shehu concluded that for Jonathan to succeed in 2027, “Dr. Jonathan should look for a better story to tell Nigerians”. Shehu alleged PDP complicity in Boko Haram activities, echoing past revelations by security agencies and Jonathan’s own warnings about Boko Haram presence in his government.