Joseph Bakare
Former President Goodluck Jonathan who lost as a first sitting president in an Indigenous election in Nigeria has blamed his defeat to interference by former United States President Barak Obama.
Speaking at the launch of his book ‘My Transition Hours’, Jonathan who re contested the 2015 presidential election under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and lost to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Muhammadu Buhari, said Obama sent the former US secretary of state, John Kerry to Nigeria and subsequently made a video broadcast to Nigerians electorates in ways that influenced the outcome of the election in favour of then opposition party.
“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,” Jonathan said in the book which has 15 chapters.
Continuing he said “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,” he further stated.
“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 revealed that David Cameron, the ex British Prime Minister also tied the line of Obama by calling to express concerns 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.
1 Comment
Funny. A thoughtless after thought. He should blamed his failure to his inability to act presidentially, such that he lost his party apparatchik as a sitting president.
More, the same migratory politicians have now coalesced for another kill in 2019. Jonathan should try another analysis.