Former president Goodluck
Jonathan says ex-US President Barack Obama meddled in Nigeria’s 2015
presidential election.
In excerpts of his book, ‘The
Transition Hours’, TheCable reports that, 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.
He described the actions of Obama
as “humiliating”.
Jonathan, flying the flag of 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 — a step unprecedented in Nigeria’s history.
The election had been moved from
February 14 to March 28 in controversial circumstances, although the Jonathan
government maintained that it was because of the security situation caused by
the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east.
In the book, Jonathan tried to
justify the rescheduling of the elections but dismissed claims that he was
trying to elongate his tenure.
‘THIS IS HYPOCRISY’
He wrote: “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.
 |
| Kerry met with Jonathan in Lagos after the 2015 general election was postponed |
“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 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.
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Kerry and Obama sign the worst deal in the history of this world ,thank GOD for bringing a republican that call a spade a spade , imaging a USA president appeasing a nation that support terrorist like HAMAS and etc
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