It appears that Nigeria’s immediate past President Good luck Jonathan whose 61st birthday is today, is yet to get over the results as he took to unveiling some shocking revelation in his newly published book titled ‘My Transition Hours’.
In the book Goodluck Jonathan accused the United States former President, Barack Obama, for interfering with the country’s 2015 presidential election.
Jonathan recounted on how Obama sent his then Secretary of State, John Kerry to Nigeria to query the change in the election date, after which Jonathan said he made a video broadcast to Nigerians in ways designed to influence the outcome of the election against him.
The US former top diplomat, Kerry, arrived in Nigeria on Sunday January 25, 2015, where in a meeting with Jonathan, was quoted in the book as saying, “it’s imperative that these elections happen on time as scheduled.”
The election which was initially fixed for February 14, had been moved to March 28 in a controversial circumstance, but the Jonathan government justifying the same change in the date, said it was because of the security situation caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east.
Check out an excerpt from the book shared by Cableng;
‘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.
“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”
