Boko Haram Insurgency Will Not End In Nigeria, Jonathan Didn’t Take It Serious – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says his successor Goodluck Jonathan did not see the Boko Haram insurgency as a serious issue.

Speaking in an interview with the BCC in Lagos on Monday, the former president said Jonathan believed the insurgency was a conspiracy by the north to stop his re-election bid in 2015.

Obasanjo said back in 2011, he took it upon himself to visit Maiduguri, Borno state to find out the grievances of the insurgents, and subsequently brought his findings to Jonathan, but the immediate past president did not take the issue seriously.

“I went out in 2011 to Maiduguri. I took great risk to find out what is really happening about Boko Haram, do they have grievances, if they have grievances, what are their grievances and I brought all that to Jonathan,” Obasanjo said.

“Jonathan didn’t believe that Boko Haram was a serious issue. He thought that it was a device by the north to prevent him from continuing as president of Nigeria which was rather unfortunate.”

The former president also said the insurgency would not end because it started from unemployment and youth frustration in the north-east.

“Boko Haram will not be over; it started from a position of gross under-development, unemployment, youth frustration in the north-east. So we must be treating the disease not the symptom,” he added.

Under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Boko Haram launched numerous attacks in the north-east and even taking over the control of some local governments in the region.