JUST-IN: Jonathan Denies Linking Buhari To Boko Haram

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed claims that helium accused precocious erstwhile President Muhammadu Buhari of having ties with the Boko Haram insurgency.

Jonathan, successful a connection issued by his spokesman, Ikechukwu Eze, said his comments astatine the nationalist presumption of a publication by erstwhile Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, were “grossly misrepresented” by immoderate sections of the media.

“The attraction of the Office of Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has been drawn to misleading reports circulating successful sections of the media suggesting that Dr. Jonathan alleged that Boko Haram nominated the precocious President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, to correspond them successful dialog with the Federal Government, and truthful this made him someway complicit successful the Boko Haram crisis,” the connection read.

Eze clarified that Jonathan “at nary clip did … suggest, imply, oregon insinuate that President Buhari had immoderate transportation with Boko Haram oregon that helium supported the radical successful immoderate form.”

According to the erstwhile president, his remarks during the lawsuit were portion of a broader reflection connected Nigeria’s information challenges and aimed astatine highlighting “the deviousness and manipulative strategies employed by Boko Haram successful their aboriginal years.”

Jonathan explained that his notation was to a well-documented occurrence erstwhile “various individuals and factions falsely claimed to correspond the violent radical and purported to sanction salient Nigerians arsenic imaginable mediators, without those individuals’ cognition oregon consent.”

He stressed that his constituent was to exemplify however Boko Haram, “in its diagnostic deceit, often invoked the names of respected nationalist figures to sow confusion, exploit governmental divisions, and undermine nationalist assurance successful government.”

Jonathan further posed a rhetorical question: “if so Buhari was their prime negotiator, wherefore didn’t Boko Haram expeditiously bring their evil violent docket to an extremity erstwhile the retired General became president?”

The connection urged Nigerians to disregard misrepresentations of his remarks, reiterating Jonathan’s committedness to bid and democracy.

“The Office of the Former President truthful urges the nationalist to disregard immoderate misinterpretation of his remarks. Dr. Jonathan remains committed to peace, unity, and the strengthening of antiauthoritarian values successful Nigeria. He believes that the nation’s advancement depends connected a truthful knowing of its challenges, not connected the distortion of facts for governmental oregon sensational purposes,” it added.