Former President Goodluck Jonathan has disclosed that the Boko Haram terrorist group once selected then–Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) as its preferred negotiator during back-channel peace efforts under his administration.

Jonathan made the revelation over the weekend in Abuja during the public presentation of Scars, a memoir written by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.).

He explained that while several committees were constituted by his government to explore dialogue with the insurgents, one of them reported that the group had nominated Buhari to represent them in talks with the Federal Government.

Boko Haram, which emerged in Borno State in the early 2000s, escalated its violent campaign following the death of its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, in police custody in 2009.

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

“So I was feeling that, oh, if they nominated Buhari to represent them and have a discussion with the government committee, then when Buhari took over, it could have been an easy way to negotiate with them and they would have handed over their guns. But it was still there till today.”

The former president, who battled the insurgency for most of his tenure, said the fact that Boko Haram remained active under Buhari’s leadership suggested that the conflict was more complicated than often portrayed.

“If you conduct research and interview many people, you will only get part of the story, but never the full story of Boko Haram,” Jonathan said. “I thought that after I left, within a reasonable time, General Buhari would wipe them out. But even today, Boko Haram is still there. The issue of Boko Haram is far more complex than it is often presented.”

Jonathan said his government pursued multiple approaches to end the insurgency, including the use of committees and outreach initiatives, but none yielded lasting results.

He urged current leaders to rethink their counterinsurgency strategy and consider adopting a “carrot-and-stick” approach that balances dialogue with military action.

He also dismissed the narrative that Boko Haram’s campaign was purely driven by poverty, pointing to the group’s access to sophisticated weaponry as evidence of external sponsorship. “If you look at the weapons they use and you value the weapons, then you know that these are not hungry people,” he said. “Sometimes, they even have more ammunition than our soldiers.”

Reflecting on the 2014 abduction of Chibok schoolgirls, Jonathan described the incident as a “scar” that would remain with him for life.