2015 POLLS: Obama, Jega, Mu’azu all wanted me out as president –Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has bemoaned the roles played by ex-United States of American President Barack Obama, in ensuring that he was removed as Nigerian president in the 2015 presidential election.

Also fingered in the conspiracy against him was the erstwhile Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Attahiru Jega, and the then national chairman of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Adamu Mu’azu.

He said he felt betrayed and disappointed by the roles the duo of Mu’azu and Jega respectively played in the 2015 presidential election that saw him, an incumbent president, voted out of office.

This was contained in an advanced copy of the book, ‘Against the Run of Play – How an incumbent president was defeated in Nigeria,’ written by the chairman of Thisday Editorial Board, Olusegun Adeniyi, and obtained by Thisday.

Jonathan also revealed in the book, how the U.S. government “even brought some naval ships into the Gulf of Guinea in the days preceding the elections.”

Explaining the role of Obama Jonathan said, “I got on very well with Prime Minister David Cameron but at some point, I noticed that the Americans were putting pressure on him and he had to join them against me.

“But I didn’t know how far President Obama was prepared to go to remove me until France caved into the pressure from America.”

The former president who said the only thing Obama administration officials held against his government was the allegation of corruption, added that “There was this blanket accusation that my body language was supporting corruption, a line invented by the opposition but which the media and civil society bought into and helped to project to the world.

“That was the same thing I kept hearing from the Americans without specific allegations.”

On Jega’s role in his ouster, Jonathan said, “I was disappointed by Jega because I still cannot understand what was propelling him to act the way he did in the weeks preceding the election.

“As at the first week in February 2015 when about 40 per cent of Nigerians had not collected their PVCs, Jega said INEC was ready to conduct an election in which millions of people would be disenfranchised.”

According to the book, Jonathan said he really felt betrayed by results of the election from some northern states. He added, “Perhaps for ethnic purposes, even security agents colluded with the opposition to come up with spurious results against me.

“You saw the way the Inspector General of Police, a man appointed by me, suddenly turned himself into the ADC to Buhari immediately after the election.”

Explaining his disappointment with the role of Mu’azu, his own party chairman, Jonathan said, “What happened was very sad not for me as a person, but for our democracy.

“Take for instance, the PDP national chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu. I believe he joined in the conspiracy against me. For reasons best known to him, he helped to sabotage the election in favour of the opposition.”

In the book, Mu’azu however denied the allegation and claimed that he found it difficult to believe that the former president would level such an allegation against him.

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