Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed information that Boko Haram's North-Eastern founders gave him regarding insurgency in Nigeria.
According to Obasanjo, the terrorist group's founders told him that unemployment and poverty were what led them into starting the insurgency.
The former president made this disclosure on Saturday at the Lagos book launch for his daughter Dr. Kofo Obasanjo-Blackshire's book, "Pillars of Statecraft: Nation-Building in a Changing World."
However, he cautioned that if the nearly 20 million children who are not in school are not immediately addressed, they will serve as a breeding ground for future members of Boko Haram.
Obasanjo argued that one of the main issues facing the nation in recent years was its search for scapegoats for its challenges. This is why government policies had shifted from being people-centered to being more political.
He stated, “During the early days of Boko Haram, when the man who started the movement was said to have been killed, I said I wanted to meet with the members of the group to talk to them and know what they wanted.
“I met with their representatives and found out that they needed nothing but a better life for themselves. Can we blame them for wanting a better life for themselves?
“They said they believed in Sharia Law. I told them that Sharia was not a problem in Nigeria. It is part of our constitution.”
Some of the insurgent group's members allegedly admitted to Obasanjo that they had gone to school but remained jobless.
He said, “Do we blame them if after four years, they have no jobs? Are they not entitled to a livelihood? This boils down to one of the P’s of nation-building – politics – which talks about governance and leadership.
“If that (leadership) is not properly taken care of, every other thing will go haywire,” he said.
He also added that Nigerians must learn to face their own problems squarely rather than blaming others for it.
He said, “We must ask, ‘What do we do with our people? How do we raise and value them? How do we value them?’
