Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has emphasized that identifying and bringing Boko Haram financiers forward to explain their motives is critical to ending the insurgency that has destabilized the nation for over 15 years.
Obasanjo said the country cannot continue to treat the insurgency as a distant or faceless problem, stressing that understanding who is behind the violence, and why, is essential to dismantling it.
The former president called on anyone with knowledge about the operations of the terrorist group, including supporters, sympathisers, and financial backers, to come forward and speak up.
“Those who have things to say and know what to do should come up. Those who are part of and supporters of Boko Haram, whatever it is, let them write, let them speak up. That way we can find a solution to this ugly problem,” he said.
Speaking during the presentation of Scar, a new book written by former Chief of Defence Staff Lucky Irabor, which offers an insider’s perspective on the terrorist group on Friday, Obasanjo recalled visiting Maiduguri in 2010, shortly after Boko Haram attacked the United Nations office in Abuja, in an effort to understand the group’s identity and demands.
According to him, what he found then was not a religious or political agenda, but a deeper frustration driven by the desire for a better life.
He questioned whether Nigeria has truly understood those motivations or taken meaningful steps to address them.
“I think we have to ask ourselves the necessary questions to be able to deal with this thing that has now become a monster within our country,” Obasanjo added.
