Former president, Goodluck Jonathan, has claimed that ex-US
president, Barack Obama meddled in Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election.
TheCable reports that in excerpts of his new book, ‘The Transition
Hours’, Jonathan said Obama sent his secretary of state, John Kerry and
made a video broadcast to Nigerians in ways designed to influence the
outcome of the election against him.
Jonathan, who contested under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
lost the election to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) and conceded while the final results were yet to be
announced.
“I can recall that President Obama sent his Secretary of State to
Nigeria, a sovereign nation, to protest the rescheduling of the
election. John Kerry arrived in Nigeria on Sunday January 25, 2015 and
said ‘it’s imperative that these elections happen on time as scheduled’.
“How can the US Secretary of State know what is more important for
Nigeria than Nigeria’s own government? How could they have expected us
to conduct elections when Boko Haram controlled part of the North East
and were killing and maiming Nigerians? Not even the assurance of the
sanctity of the May 29, 2015 handover date could calm them down. In
Nigeria, the constitution is very clear. No President can extend his
tenure by one day.
“On March 23, 2015, President Obama himself took the unusual step of
releasing a video message directly to Nigerians all but telling them how
to vote. In that video, Obama urged Nigerians to open the ‘next
chapter’ by their votes. Those who understood subliminal language
deciphered that he was prodding the electorate to vote for the
opposition to form a new government. The message was so condescending,
it was as if Nigerians did not know what to do and needed an Obama to
direct them.
“In his message, he said ‘all Nigerians must be able to cast their
votes without intimidation or fear,’ yet his government was vehemently
and publicly against the postponement of the elections to enable our
military defeat Boko Haram and prevent them from intimidating voters.
This was the height of hypocrisy!” Jonathan wrote.
Jonathan said the foreign pressure on the issue of election
rescheduling was intense, suggesting that “the curious posture” was of
one who had been “deceived before and therefore had every reason to cede
no credence to our position. But there was no reason to have such a
posture”.
He revealed that David Cameron, then the UK prime minister, called to
express his concern about the election rescheduling, “just as John
Kerry came from the United States to express further worry… In fact,
John Kerry did not accept our reasons for the rescheduling”.
The former president said it was “unbelievable” because “we knew why
the agitation was beyond what meets the eyes. There were deeper
political interests”.
“In attendance at the meeting of the Council of State where the
decision to reschedule the election was taken were almost all the living
former Heads of State of this country. That should have convinced John
Kerry of the good intentions of the government. He cannot claim to love
and defend Nigeria more than all our former heads of state present at
the meeting. I have stated earlier how Kerry’s visit was designed to
humiliate a sitting Nigerian president and clearly take sides in the
country’s election,” Jonathan wrote.