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‘I Did Not Negotiate With Boko Haram’ – Jonathan Makes Unexpected Revelation

Published

8 years ago

January 29, 2016

Former president of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan has stated that he did not negotiate with the Boko Haram sect.
The Cable reports that the ex-president denied entering into any peace talks with insurgents in an interview with a news website Quartz on the sidelines of his press conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
“I did not negotiate with Boko Haram. The government never set up a team,” Quartz quoted him as saying.
It would be recalled that top government officials, including Reuben Abati, Jonathan’s spokesman, and Hassan Tukur, the principal private secretary of the ex-president, confirmed the peace deal.
Speaking with the Voice of America, Tukur said that the federal government was meeting with Danladi Ahmadu , a representative of the Boko Haram sect, and high-level officials from Chad and Cameroon.
Abati, in his turn, supported Tukur’s statement by saying he was optimistic that the talks would be“concrete and positive”.
However, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the terrorist group, released a video, in which he contradicted the terms of the said peace pact.
“We have not made ceasefire with anyone. We did not negotiate with anyone… It’s a lie. It’s a lie. We will not negotiate. What is our business with negotiation? Allah said we should not,” he said.
In the interview, Jonathan also denied the allegations of corruption against his government.
“Sometimes people think that I was president since the independence (of Nigeria) and not for five years. Sometimes they say that we have lost over $150 billion in funds in the five years that I was president,” he said.
Reacting to allegations of missing money made by Sanusi Lamido, former Central Bank governor, the former president said:
“Because of politics, some people come up with more money and say that $49.8 billion were missing within 18 months. The same person who raised the issue, within two days said the money was $12 billion, and the two days later said it was $20 billion. “Regarding the $9 billion, the truth will come out.”
A few days ago, Jonathan spoke on Boko Haram in an exclusive interview to France 24.
The former president stated that the terrorism caught Nigeria unexpectedly but his administration laid a solid foundation for insurgency to be defeated. He noted that the incumbent government is fighting against insurgents with the weapons which were purchased under his administration.