Olusegun Ariyo
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has alleged that ex-US President Barack Obama plotted his defeat in 2015.
Jonathan made this allegation in his new book, ‘My Transition Hours’, due to launch on Tuesday.
He said Obama displayed an unusual level of bias during the 2015 elections, describing him as overbearing and ‘condescending’ in his message to Nigerians ahead of the 2015 general election.
According to Jonathan, “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.”
Giving the details in the book, Jonathan said, “In that video, Obama urged Nigerians to open the ‘next chapter’ with their votes.
“Those who understood subliminal language deciphered that he was prodding the electorate to vote for the opposition to form a new government.”
According to Premium Times, which obtained a copy of the book hours before its unveiling in Abuja on Tuesday, Jonathan had kept the book secret in order to avoid excerpts of it being published ahead of its formal launch.
Jonathan lost the 2015 elections to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, marking the first time an incumbent president had lost a reelection bid.
He assumed office in 2010 following the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua, and secured a four-year mandate at the 2011 presidential election.
“The message was so condescending, it was as if Nigerians did not know what to do and needed an Obama to direct them,” Jonathan said of the video message.
He lampooned Obama, who was the American president from 2009 until 2017, for saying all Nigerians must be able to cast their votes without intimidation or fear, but was reluctant to allow the Nigerian security forces drive Boko Haram insurgents away from the Nigerian territories they had been occupying to free Nigerian citizens there ahead of elections.
Jonathan also took a harsh aim at former US Secretary of State John Kerry, saying the diplomat was nonchalant in his attitude towards his government, despite all efforts to make him understand that the decision to postpone the election was in the overall interest of Nigeria.
“How can the U.S. 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 was killing and maiming Nigerians?
“Not even the assurance of the sanctity of Mthe ay 29, 2015, handover date could calm them down. In Nigeria, the Constitution is very clear: No President can extend his tenure by one day,” Jonathan said.
