Former President Goodluck Jonathan has revealed that members of the terrorist group Boko Haram often possessed more sophisticated weapons than the Nigerian military during his administration.
Jonathan made the shocking revelation on Friday during the launch of “Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum,” a book authored by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.), in Abuja.
According to the former president, contrary to public belief, Boko Haram insurgents were not poor or hungry people, but a well-armed group with external backing.
“Boko Haram members are not hungry people. Sometimes they even use better ammunition than our soldiers,” Jonathan said.
He traced the rise of the insurgency to 2009, during the administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and recounted his own efforts to curb the crisis after assuming power in 2010.
“Boko Haram started in 2009 when I was the Vice President to the late Yar’Adua. Even when I took over as president in 2010, I battled with it until I left office in 2015,” Jonathan explained.
Jonathan expressed disappointment that the insurgency has persisted for over a decade despite several government interventions.
“I thought immediately I left, within a reasonable time, the late President Muhammadu Buhari was going to wipe them out. But till today, Boko Haram is still here. The issue has become more complex,” he lamented.
He further alleged that foreign influences might have been fueling the insurgency by supplying the group with weapons and funding.
“When you wonder where these guns and sophisticated weapons are coming from, you see that external hands are also involved, especially when I was president,” Jonathan added.
