Former presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, has dismissed claims by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan that former President Muhammadu Buhari was once nominated by the Boko Haram terrorist group to negotiate on its behalf.
Reacting to Jonathan’s comments made during the public presentation of a book authored by former Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor (rtd.), in Abuja on Friday, Shehu described the remarks as “misleading and historically inaccurate.”
He said if Jonathan’s comments were intended as part of an early campaign message for the 2027 elections, then “he is making a false start.”
According to Shehu, neither Boko Haram’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf, nor his successor, Abubakar Shekau, ever nominated Buhari to mediate with the group. Instead, he noted, Shekau had consistently denounced and threatened Buhari due to their opposing ideologies.
Shehu recalled that in 2014, Buhari narrowly escaped a bomb attack by Boko Haram in Kaduna, which left several of his aides injured.
> “Buhari’s political campaigns were focused on defeating Boko Haram and restoring security to Nigeria. That placed him in direct opposition to the terrorists and their leadership,” Shehu said.
He explained that when reports first emerged in 2011 about Buhari’s alleged nomination, the then opposition leader promptly denied any knowledge of such claims.
Citing a statement by the then Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Buba Galadima, Shehu said Buhari dismissed the reports as “mere speculation,” stressing that no one had ever contacted him regarding any negotiation.
Shehu said confusion over the issue began after a Boko Haram faction — possibly backed by Buhari’s political opponents — held a press conference in Maiduguri, where one Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz claimed that the sect preferred Buhari and other northern elders, including the late Shettima Ali Monguno and Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, to mediate.
However, Shekau’s loyalists quickly disowned Abdulaziz, declaring that he had no authority to speak for the group.
At the time, the CPC’s then Publicity Secretary, the late Rotimi Fashekun, had also condemned the Jonathan administration and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for politicizing the alleged nomination, describing it as “another ploy by the corrupt PDP-led government to distract Nigerians from its massive looting.”
Fashekun maintained that Buhari had no links whatsoever with any insurgent group, portraying him as “a quintessential patriot,” while accusing Jonathan’s government of allowing Boko Haram to infiltrate the system.
Shehu also referenced Jonathan’s own admission that Boko Haram elements had infiltrated his administration — a claim supported by the late National Security Adviser, General Andrew Azazi, and reports from the State Security Service (SSS).
> “Jonathan’s latest comments revive a long-debunked falsehood and fail to acknowledge Buhari’s consistent opposition to Boko Haram,” Shehu concluded.
“If Dr. Jonathan plans to return in 2027, he should find a better story to tell Nigerians.”
