Former Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, has accused ex-President Barack Obama of the US of pushing for his defeat in the 2015 presidential election.
President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated Jonathan of the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which had been in power for 16 years.
Unveiling his book, ‘My Transition Hours’ at his 61st birthday on Tuesday in Abuja, Jonathan said that Obama took unusual step by “prodding the electorate to vote for the opposition” in the election.
“On 23March 2015, President Obama himself took the unusual step of releasing a video message directly to Nigerians telling them how to vote,” Jonathan wrote.
“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,” he said.
According to Jonathan, the message undermined Nigerians and smacked off hypocrisy.
The former Nigerian leader added that although Obama, in his message, said “all Nigerians must be able to cast their votes without intimidation or fear,” his government was vehemently and publicly against the postponement of the elections to enable the military defeat Boko Haram and prevent them from intimidating voters.
“This was the height of hypocrisy!” Jonathan declared. Jonathan’s grouse with Obama went beyond the video.
He narrated in the book that the actions of the then US Secretary of State, John Kerry, especially his visit to Nigeria after the elections were rescheduled from February 2015 to March, belied a plot to humiliate him.
This, he explained, was because even though the decision to postpone the elections was taken by INEC after a meeting of the Council of State, Kerry refused to accept that it was in the interest of the country and the electorate.
Despite the criticism that followed the decision to reschedule the election, Jonathan insisted that the decision was the right one and it paid off.
– APA
