Obasanjo: “What I Found Out About Boko Haram”

Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has revealed new facts about Boko Haram, its founder and the insurgents. Obasanjo spoke to eNCA’s Raphael Ambasu in Kenya last week when he launched his memoir, My Watch. When asked why his efforts fell short despite being part of the negotiating team, Obasanjo said, ” I wasn’t negotiating on behalf of anybody. I decided to find out facts on my own. After the Boko Haram attacked the UN house in Abuja, I thought it was getting too far, I wanted to know if there is an organization, and if there is an organization, what is its objective? Are they organized? Do they have leaders? What are their grievances? Are they ready to talk and all that, which I took up on my own.

“I spoke to the president and said “look can I do this on my own?”, he said “look you can go and do it” and I thank him and I went. In fact he said he will give me a plane to go around. I said “look I don’t want a plane to go around because if I take a government plane to go around, I become a government agent and that would be suspect. No I don’t want the government to give it, so I did it on my own. The find, Yes, there is an organization, they have leaders, they have objectives, Sharia is their objective and Sharia law is not a 
problem, it is part of our constitution; they have grievances which nobody seems to be attending to, the development situation in their area.

“You see how they came about Boko Haram, that’s not the name they give themselves but their leader before he was killed in cold blood by the police. Mohammed Yusuf called in graduates that were with him and said “look bring your certificates, one who has first class, one who has second class, upper second class, lower and all that and one who has masters, so okay with your certificates can you use them to feed yourself? if you cannot use it to feed yourself, of what use is it?” So that’s where they got that appellation Boko Haram. Do they want to talk? At that time they wanted to talk, they even said they will talk not in Africa and I said to their proxy but look this is an African problem, it will be solved on African soil. Do they have leaders? yes they have leaders. So all things that I found out are reported faithfully to the authority.