Russell Brooks, a public affairs
officer at the US consulate in Lagos, has accused former President Goodluck
Jonathan of not comprehending why the country harped on the need for a credible
and peaceful election in 2015.
The envoy said this while
reacting to Jonathan’s claim that the Barack Obama, former US president,
interfered with the country’s 2015 election.
Recall that Jonathan had in his book criticised the American government over the election.
The former president wrote: “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.”
But speaking during a live
Facebook chat on Tuesday, Brooks accused Jonathan of “mischaracterisation”.
Asked by Aghogho Oboh, a
broadcaster and the chat anchor, to respond to Jonathan’s claim, Brooks said:
“It was mischaracterised in the book about what President Obama or his
administration did in Nigeria. The mischaracterisation here refers to not
comprehending why we felt it was important for Nigeria to have a peaceful, free
and fair election in 2015.
“And thereby people may not
understand why we placed so much importance of having a peaceful, free and fair
and transparent election in 2019.”
He said considering the history
of election violence in Nigeria, the US felt it was important to have a
credible and fair election in 2015.
According to him, “in the past,
Nigeria’s elections had been beset by violence, there have been questions about
the fairness of those elections. And we certainly believe that Nigeria can do
better. In 2015, Nigeria did do better.”
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