Malam Garba Shehu, former media aide to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, has vehemently rejected former President Goodluck Jonathan’s assertion that Boko Haram once nominated Buhari as their negotiator during Jonathan’s tenure.
The controversy erupted during the launch of “Scars,” a book by ex-Chief of Defence Staff Lucky Irabor, in Abuja on Friday. Jonathan recounted forming committees to engage Boko Haram in dialogue, claiming the insurgents selected Buhari their future adversary to head their negotiation team. “One of the committees we set up then, the Boko Haram, nominated Buhari to lead their team to negotiate with the government,” Jonathan stated.
Shehu branded the remark a fabrication aimed at bolstering Jonathan’s potential 2027 presidential run. “If this is a campaign statement towards his bid for the presidency in 2027, we want to say to him that ‘Mr. Jonathan, you are making a false start,’” Shehu retorted. He insisted no such endorsement came from Boko Haram figures like founder Muhammad Yusuf or leader Abubakar Shekau, who frequently vilified Buhari. Shehu cited a 2014 bomb plot in Kaduna that nearly killed Buhari, injuring his aides, as evidence of the group’s enmity.
Shehu traced the “misleading” narrative to a 2012 press conference in Maiduguri, Borno State, by a splinter faction under Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz, self-proclaimed commander for Southern and Northern Borno. Abdulaziz named Buhari, alongside figures like the late Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Shettima Ali Monguno, and Ambassador Gaji Gatimari, as preferred mediators. However, core Boko Haram leaders disavowed Abdulaziz, declaring he lacked Shekau’s authority.
Buhari himself debunked the claim while leading the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011. Via CPC National Secretary Engr. Buba Galadima, Buhari said he was oblivious to the nomination and viewed it as mere speculation, vowing to persist in prayers for national peace.
Shehu urged Jonathan to seek a more credible narrative for any 2027 ambitions: “To win in 2027, Dr. Jonathan should look for a better story to tell Nigerians.”
