Former President Goodluck Jonathan has claimed that former United States President, Barack Obama, actively sought to influence his defeat in Nigeria’s 2015 general elections.
The allegation appears in Jonathan’s upcoming book, My Transition Hours, set to be released on Tuesday.
He described Obama’s actions as unusually biased, portraying him as overbearing and “condescending” in his message to Nigerians during the election period.
Jonathan stated, “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.”
He elaborated in the book, “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.”
Premium Times, which obtained a copy of the book ahead of its official launch in Abuja on Tuesday, reported that Jonathan had kept the manuscript under wraps to prevent early excerpts from being published.
Recall that Jonathan lost the 2015 election to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, marking the first time an incumbent president in Nigeria was defeated in a reelection bid. Jonathan had assumed office in 2010 following the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua and later secured his own four-year mandate in the 2011 election.
Commenting on Obama’s video, Jonathan said, “The message was so condescending, it was as if Nigerians did not know what to do and needed an Obama to direct them.”
He criticized Obama, who led the United States from 2009 to 2017, for insisting that Nigerians should vote without fear or intimidation, while allegedly hesitating to allow Nigerian forces to drive Boko Haram out of territories they controlled to protect citizens ahead of the polls.
Jonathan also targeted former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, accusing him of showing indifference toward his government despite repeated efforts to explain that postponing the election was necessary for Nigeria’s stability.
“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 were killing and maiming Nigerians? Not even the assurance of the sanctity of 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,” Jonathan wrote.
