Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is sharply critical of former President Barack Obama in his new book, charging Obama with meddling in the 2015 Nigerian election.
The crux of Jonathan’s point rests on a video Obama made addressing Nigerian voters and telling telling them to "write the next chapter" of progress for the country, Nigeria’s Premium Times reported. Jonathan took that as a message to Nigerians to vote for the opposition, which they did, electing current President Muhammadu Buhari.
"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," Jonathan wrote in his new 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."
Press in the U.S. greeted Buhari’s election in 2015 as a victory for Obama, with a CNN report saying Jonathan "was often a source of frustration for Washington." World leaders, including the United Kingdom’s David Cameron, expressed worry over the fairness of the 2015 election given Jonathan’s decision to delay it by six weeks.
The decision was part of a larger disagreement about how to deal with the terrorist organization Boko Haram, which was in control of part of the northeast of Nigeria in the weeks before the scheduled election.
Jonathan’s sharpest criticism may have been for former Secretary of State John Kerry, who Jonathan said tried to "humiliate" him, refusing to believe his decision to delay the election was based on legitimate security concerns.
"[Kerry] cannot claim to love and defend Nigeria more than all our former heads of state present at the meeting," Jonathan said. "I have stated earlier how Kerry’s visit was designed to humiliate a sitting Nigerian president and clearly take sides in the country’s election."
Jonathan also justified delaying the election by pointing to the actions of Boko Haram.
"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?" he asked.
"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," he added.
Jonathan claimed vindication for the decision when Nigeria’s military forces were able to push Boko Haram back and reclaim territories before the election took place. When Buhari won, Jonathan handed power over peacefully.
"Anyhow, the six weeks served us well. We received the military equipment we were expecting within that period and our Armed Forces commendable dealt a deserving blow on the terrorists and repossessed all territorial areas of Nigeria previously occupied by the terrorists. Boko Haram was deflated up to the point I handed over to my successor on May 29, 2015," Jonathan said.