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How Obama engineered my 2015 defeat – Jonathan
In his forthcoming book, former President Goodluck Jonathan has leveled allegations against former United States President Barack Obama, claiming he orchestrated his electoral loss in 2015.
Jonathan characterized the American leader’s approach as domineering and patronizing in his communication with Nigerian citizens before the election.
READ ALSO: Sanusi: Jonathan suspended 2011 fuel subsidy removal over Boko Haram threat
The former Nigerian president criticized Obama’s actions, asserting the ex-U.S. president demonstrated extraordinary partiality during the 2015 electoral contest by releasing a public statement that effectively instructed Nigerians on their voting choices.
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.”
In his upcoming book titled My Transition Hours, scheduled for unveiling this Tuesday, Jonathan elaborated:
“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, having secured an advance copy before the official release, noted that Jonathan maintained strict confidentiality around the manuscript to prevent early distribution of excerpts.
The 2015 election resulted in Jonathan’s defeat to Muhammadu Buhari, representing the first instance of a sitting president losing at the ballot box.
Jonathan had taken office in 2010 after Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s passing and secured election to a complete term in 2011.
Before the 2015 vote, the election date was pushed back six weeks to March 28, generating significant domestic and international backlash.
Jonathan observed that his political adversaries alleged he sought to extend his tenure unlawfully, charges he rejected, maintaining the delay resulted from security concerns related to Boko Haram’s territorial control in portions of the North-East.
Discussing Obama’s video statement, Jonathan remarked, “The message was so condescending, it was as if Nigerians did not know what to do and needed an Obama to direct them.”
He additionally charged that Obama publicly demanded Nigerians must be able to vote freely “without intimidation or fear”, while supposedly showing reluctance to permit Nigerian security agencies to reclaim Boko Haram-controlled areas prior to the election.
Jonathan also criticized former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, alleging he demonstrated contempt for the Nigerian government’s stance and refused to recognize that delaying the polls was, from his perspective, essential for national security.
“How can the U.S. Secretary of State know what is more important for Nigeria than Nigeria’s own government?
“How could we have conducted elections when Boko Haram controlled parts of the North-East and were killing and maiming Nigerians?” Jonathan said.
He maintained that notwithstanding external pressure, the Nigerian government remained dedicated to transferring authority on May 29, 2015, emphasizing that “No President can extend his tenure by one day under the Nigerian Constitution.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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