Chibok Girls abduction remains a permanent scar on my life – Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has described the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014 as a permanent scar on his government and personal life.

Speaking in Abuja on Friday at the public presentation of Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum, a book by retired Chief of Defence Staff Lucky Irabor, Jonathan said: “It (the abduction) is a scar I will die with. But perhaps later, more details may become known, and that too has to do with Boko Haram.”

He recalled that while his government attempted dialogue with Boko Haram, the group nominated Muhammadu Buhari, who later became president in 2015, as their preferred negotiator. Jonathan noted that he expected Buhari’s involvement to make negotiations easier, but the insurgency persisted throughout his successor’s tenure.

“If you conduct research and interview many people, you will only get part of the story, but never the full story of Boko Haram,” he said, stressing that the insurgency is more complex than widely portrayed.

Jonathan said Boko Haram began in 2009 during the presidency of Musa Yar’Adua, when he was vice president, and that he spent his five years in office battling the insurgency. “I thought that after I left, within a reasonable time, General Buhari would wipe them out. But even today, Boko Haram is still there,” he added.

He emphasized the need for a fresh approach to tackling the crisis, while expressing optimism that Nigeria would eventually overcome it. “I believe one day we will overcome it,” Jonathan said, commending Irabor for documenting the Boko Haram saga and urging other military officers involved to share their accounts.

The former president also noted that if the crisis had been only about hunger, government efforts might have ended it, but its deeper complexity required more than conventional solutions. He maintained that both his administration and that of the late Buhari tried different strategies to confront the insurgency.