Jonathan didn’t believe Boko Haram was a serious issue, says Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that former President Goodluck Jonathan did not believe the Boko Haram insurgency was a serious issue. The former president said this in an interview with the BBC in Lagos.

According to The Cable, he said Jonathan believed the insurgency was a ploy by the north to stop him from getting re-elected. He said he brought the grievances of the sect to the immediate past president in 2011, but he did not take the issue seriously.

“I went out in 2011 to Maiduguri. I took great risk to find out what is really happening about Boko Haram, do they have grievances, if they have grievances, what are their grievances and I brought all that to Jonathan,” Obasanjo said.

“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.” The former president also said the insurgency would not end because it stemmed from youth frustration in the north-east.

“Boko Haram will not be over; it started from a position of gross under-development, unemployment, youth frustration in the north-east. So we must be treating the disease not the symptom,” he said. Under Jonathan, Boko Haram held a swathe of territories in the north-east, and even launched fatal attacks in the Federal Capital Territory.