<\/p>\n
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed reports suggesting he accused the late President Muhammadu Buhari of having ties to Boko Haram, describing the claims as misrepresentations of his remarks.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued on Saturday by Ikechukwu Eze, his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Jonathan clarified that he never suggested or implied that Buhari had any connection with the terrorist group or endorsed it in any manner.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wish to make it abundantly clear that the former President\u2019s comments were grossly misrepresented.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt no time did Dr Jonathan suggest, imply, or insinuate that President Buhari had any connection with Boko Haram or that he supported the group in any form.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Jonathan\u2019s remarks, made in the course of a broader discussion on Nigeria\u2019s security challenges, were meant to illustrate the deviousness and manipulative strategies employed by Boko Haram in their early years.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis reference was to a well-documented episode when various individuals and factions falsely claimed to represent the terrorist group and purported to name prominent Nigerians as possible mediators, without those individuals\u2019 knowledge or consent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe point Dr Jonathan sought to make was that Boko Haram, in its characteristic deceit, often invoked the names of respected public figures to sow confusion, exploit political divisions, and undermine public confidence in government.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis comments were therefore an illustration of the group\u2019s duplicity, not an accusation against the late former president or any individual for that matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe former president\u2019s position was that if indeed Buhari was their choice negotiator, why didn\u2019t Boko Haram expeditiously bring their evil terrorist agenda to an end when the retired General became president?<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the avoidance of doubt, Dr Jonathan recognises that President Muhammadu Buhari, like every patriotic Nigerian, stood firmly against terrorism and was himself a target of Boko Haram violence. Both men, during their respective tenures, shared a common commitment to restoring peace and stability to Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Office of the Former President therefore urges the public to disregard any misinterpretation of his remarks. Dr Jonathan remains committed to peace, unity, and the strengthening of democratic values in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe believes that the nation\u2019s progress depends on a truthful understanding of its challenges, not on the distortion of facts for political or sensational purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed reports suggesting he accused the late President Muhammadu Buhari of having ties to Boko Haram, describing the claims as misrepresentations of his remarks. In a statement issued on Saturday by Ikechukwu Eze, his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Jonathan clarified that he never suggested or implied that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":236271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/41E86158-869B-44EA-B3B2-B86F38EDE8C9.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}