Maiduguri visit, not for negotiation — Obasanjo

By Ademola Oni
Sunday, 18 Sep 2011

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said his Thursday’s visit to the family of Mohammed Yusuf, the slain leader of the fundamentalist Islamic sect, Boko Haram, in Maiduguri “was a learning process.”

Speaking with our correspondent on the telephone, Obasanjo explained that he had refrained from making comments on the sect’s insurgence because he did not have sufficient information on the radical religious group.

The former nation’s leader denied that he was in Maiduguri to represent the Federal Government.

The ex-President was reported to have visited the family of late Yusuf last Thursday ostensibly to facilitate a negotiation between the Federal Government and the fundamentalist group.

He was said to have held a closed door discussion with some representatives of the family, led by the late Boko Haram’s brother-in-law, Babafura Fugu, with a view to brokering a truce that would ensure that Boko Haram would stop its violent attacks in some parts of the country and embrace peace.

As a result of the reports, some Nigerians concluded that the former President was representing the FG in order to open a door for possible negotiations between the government and the radical sect, which had claimed responsibility for a number of high profile bombings including the August 26 attack on the UN building in Abuja, where 23 people died.

Obasanjo, however, dismissed the reports, saying he was not in Borno State for negotiation.

“No, far from it, I did not go there for negotiation; my visit was a learning process,” said the former President.

“I have heard about the activities of Boko Haram but no one seems to know much about the group or its grievances. Everybody is just talking about Boko Haram. I wanted to learn and know what is actually going on so that we can know what we can do about it.

“If I have learnt, then, when I’m asked questions about what is going on in my country about Boko Haram, I can talk from the standpoint of information and knowledge. So, the visit was just to learn.”

He argued that it would be difficult for a group of people to just come together and start fighting without a reason, wondering if the reasons for the emergence of the radical Islamic sect had been uncovered.

“A group of people cannot just come together and start fighting and bombing. They are not mad people. Something must be responsible for their action; that is what we need to find out,” he added.

Obasanjo, however, denied that the visit was at the instance of the Presidency or the Federal Government, arguing that he had done what an elder was supposed to do.

The former President did not foreclose the possibility that he would nevertheless make some recommendations to the FG based on what he had been able to learn from the Maiduguri trip.

He said, “Well, that is not impossible; at least to ensure that there is peace. I will make the recommendations. It is left for the people in government to do whatever they want to do with such recommendations.

SOURCE: Sunday Punch, 18 September 2011. http://punchontheweb.com