Jonathan: ‘Boko Haram uses better ammunition than Nigerian soldiers’

Jonathan also noted that the group’s sophisticated weapons suggest it has external backing.

By Kehinde Okeowo      

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has said members of the self-proclaimed jihadist militant group based in northeastern Nigeria, Boko Haram, are at times better equipped than the Nigerian military, insisting that they are not just hungry people.

He made this known on Friday in Abuja at the launch of the ‘Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum’, a new book authored by Lucky Irabor, former Chief of Defence Staff.

According to the former president, the group’s sophisticated weapons suggest it has external backing.

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He went on to advise the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to consider a carrot-and-stick approach in solving the security crisis.

Speaking during the event, Jonathan said, “Issue of carrots and the stick may be adopted, and yes, probably the needs are there, but if you look at the weapons they use, and you value the weapons, then you know that these are not hungry people.

“So, the soldiers that sometimes capture some of the weapons will see better, but the weapons they use, the ammunition they use, sometimes they even have more ammunition than our soldiers.

“Where are these guns, sophisticated weapons coming from? And you begin to see that the external hands are also involved, especially when I was president.”