Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has stirred national conversation by revisiting the origins of the Boko Haram insurgency during a recent interview on Arise News. During the broadcast, Abubakar reminded viewers that the group first emerged during his tenure under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, emphasizing that the government of the day took decisive action to prevent it from escalating into the global threat it eventually became.

The former Vice President’s comments highlight a pivotal moment in Nigerian history. Founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 in Maiduguri, Borno State, the group—originally known as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad—initially operated as a religious movement. In the Arise interview, Abubakar noted that his administration (1999–2007) witnessed the early stages of this radicalization, particularly the “Kanama uprising” in late 2003, when the group’s followers attempted to establish an autonomous base in Yobe State.

Speaking to the Arise News anchors, Atiku argued that the Obasanjo-Abubakar administration recognized the potential danger early on. He pointed out that when the group began its “Nigerian Taliban” activities in the North East, the government utilized security forces to dismantle their initial camps within weeks. Abubakar used this historical context to suggest that early-stage containment was successful during his time in office.

The assertion by the former Vice President serves as a critique of how the insurgency was handled in later years. While the group remained relatively underground following the 2003 crackdown, the conflict exploded into a full-scale insurgency in 2009.

Abubakar’s remarks on Arise TV suggest that the initial containment strategy used by the PDP-led government in the early 2000s was a proactive approach that subsequent administrations failed to maintain.

Critics, however, continue to debate whether the administration did enough to address the underlying socio-economic grievances that allowed the group to recruit followers in the first place. By bringing this up now, Abubakar has refocused the national security dialogue on the importance of intelligence and decisive military response at the first sign of radicalization.