Boko Haram has become part of Nigerians’ lives – Obasanjo

A former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on Friday warned that the Boko Haram insurgency had become a part of daily life for Nigerians, urging the nation to confront the menace with deeper questioning and stronger resolve.

Obasanjo spoke on Friday in Abuja at the public presentation of Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum, a book authored by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (retd.).

Obasanjo said, “Boko Haram is now virtually becoming part of our life. Should we accept that? If we should not accept it, what should we do?

“How much do we know? Even from the other side, and from this side, have we been active enough? Have we been proactive enough?

“I think we have to ask ourselves the necessary questions to be able to deal with this thing that is now becoming a monster within our country.”

The former president, who wrote the foreword to Irabor’s book, praised the ex-CDS for documenting his experiences in the fight against terrorism for posterity, describing the effort as an act of courage.

Also present at the event were former President Goodluck Jonathan, service chiefs, former and serving governors, and clerics.

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Jonathan, while speaking at the occasion, disclosed that Boko Haram insurgents once nominated former President Muhammadu Buhari as their preferred negotiator in peace talks with his administration.

He said his government had explored multiple committees and approaches to end the insurgency, but the crisis proved more complex than often portrayed.

He added that the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014 would remain a permanent scar on his government.

Boko Haram, which emerged in the early 2000s in Borno State, became a major security threat after its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in police custody in 2009, escalating its violent campaign of bombings, mass abductions, and attacks on military and civilian targets.