“Politically motivated lie” – Garba Shehu replies Jonathan over Buhari Boko haram claim

Garba Shehu, former spokesperson to late President Buhari has lashed out at ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan for using the deceased’s name to maintain political relevance.

Goodluck Jonathan, former president, revealed that the terrorist group Boko Haram once nominated the late former President Buhari to represent them in peace negotiations with the federal government during his administration.

Jonathan made the disclosure on Friday in Abuja during the public presentation of “Scars”, a book authored by Lucky Irabor, former Chief of Defence Staff.

“One of the committees we set up then, the Boko Haram, nominated Buhari to lead their team to negotiate with the government,” Jonathan said.

However, Garba Shehu, former spokesperson to Buhari, swiftly dismissed the claim, describing it as false and politically motivated.

“If this is a campaign statement towards his bid for the presidency in 2027, we want to say to him that Mr. Jonathan is making a false start,” Shehu said in a statement.

Shehu insisted that neither Muhammad Yusuf nor Abubakar Shekau, both deceased leaders of the insurgent group, ever nominated Buhari for any form of dialogue.

Instead, he noted that Shekau frequently denounced and threatened Buhari, who narrowly escaped a Boko Haram bomb attack in Kaduna in 2014.

The former presidential aide recalled that Buhari had publicly denied any knowledge of such nomination at the time.

Citing Buba Galadima, then National Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Shehu said Buhari had dismissed the reports as “speculation”, emphasizing that no one ever contacted him.

“What led to the misleading information was that a faction of the terrorist group, possibly sponsored by Buhari’s opponents, staged a press conference in Maiduguri, Borno State. Through a certain Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz.

“He said the sect would prefer the former military leader, General Muhammadu Buhari; late Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, late Shettima Ali Monguno and other prominent Borno figures to mediate between them and the federal government,” he added.

Shehu explained that the claim was later disowned by Boko Haram’s main leadership, who said Abdulaziz had “no mandate of their leader, Imam Abubakar Shekau.”

“Speaking on the issue, the then CPC publicity secretary, the late Rotimi Fashakin, lambasted President Jonathan and the ruling PDP for using the alleged nomination as a political weapon,” Shehu added.

According to Fashakin, Buhari’s supposed nomination was nothing more than “the latest gambit in the desire of this organically corrupt PDP-led government to divert the attention of Nigerians from the ongoing massive looting of their commonwealth.”

“If Mr. Jonathan is seeking political relevance ahead of 2027, he should look for a better story,” Shehu concluded his statement with a jab at the former president.