Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has described the 2014 abduction of 276 Chibok schoolgirls as an indelible scar on his presidency — one he will “die with.”
Speaking at the launch of “SCARS: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum”, a memoir by former Chief of Defence Staff General Lucky Irabor, Jonathan praised Irabor as a principled officer who “never played politics with security.”
Reflecting on the tragedy, Jonathan admitted the incident would always define part of his legacy. “One of the major scars on my government is the Chibok girls. No plastic or cosmetic surgeon can remove it,” he said.
The mass kidnapping triggered global outrage and the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Although many girls have been freed or escaped, over 80 remain missing more than a decade later.
Jonathan, who battled Boko Haram for five years as president, said he had expected his successor, Muhammadu Buhari, to eliminate the insurgency swiftly but noted it had persisted. He warned that the crisis was “more complex than many assume” and called for a fresh approach, possibly combining negotiation and military force.
He suggested that Boko Haram’s access to superior weapons indicated foreign involvement. “Sometimes they had more munitions than our soldiers. That does not reflect the actions of hungry villagers,” he observed.
Jonathan’s administration faced criticism for its delayed response and reluctance to accept foreign assistance, but he defended the government’s initial silence as necessary to protect sensitive intelligence operations.
To date, 189 girls have been rescued or released, but dozens remain in captivity, facing trauma and stigma. The Federal Government maintains that rescuing the remaining Chibok girls and Leah Sharibu remains a top national priority.