The agony of defeat is long and excruciating this aptly characterized former President Goodluck Jonathan’s attribution of his defeat in 2015 presidential elections to conspiracy of the West namely the USA, Britain and France.
In a new book “Against The Run of Play” authored by the Chairman of ThisDay Editorial Board, Olusegun Adeniyi, Jonathan said former US President Barack Obama, ex-British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande helped President Muhamamdu Buhari win the election.
He said: “President Barack Obama and his officials made it very clear to me by their actions that they wanted a change of government in Nigeria and we’re ready to do anything to achieve that purpose. They even brought some naval ships into the Gulf of Guinea in the days preceding the election.
“I got on 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 realise how far President Obama was prepared to go to remove me until France caved in to the pressure from America. “But weeks to the election, he had also joined the Americans in supporting the opposition against me.”
On why Obama was not confident in him, Jonathan said, “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.”
Jonathan also admitted that Buhari’s administration was doing a better job on the fight against insurgency. “What is happening now with regards to Boko Haram was the same thing that happened to me regarding Niger Delta militants in 2007.
“I did my best and so did the military, though I can understand if there is greater commitment to the fight now than in the past. In my time, Boko Haram said they were fighting an infidel government. That naturally has to change since they cannot also call Buhari an infidel.
“There is a feeling of ‘our man is there now’ that you cannot discountenance. It was the same feeling with me with the Niger Delta militants at the initial stage in 2007,” he said.
While there might be some truth in Jonathan’ s postmortem of the causes of his defeat in the 2015 presidential elections, he should also be honest with himself and accept his numerous failings. His administration lackadaisical depositions to fight corruption and Boko Haram insurgency got us into the abyss we are in today.
I think Mr. Former President you did not do enough to convince Nigerians of your good leadership and the need to give you a second term. There were open excesses and breaches of the law by members of your administration. The Nigerian treasury was turned into a tap without lock. Favourism and nepotism became a state policy. Look in the mirror and you will see the person responsible for your defeat.
You once said on a live television programme that stealing is not corruption. You, in essence gave unfettered licence for corruption to strive and the revelations of the past months justified Nigerians position that your administration was corrupt. The profligacy and lack of long term economic planning of your government is partly responsible for the economic logjam and recession Nigeria is in now. The recovery and discovery of unexplainable funds in addition to wanton, questionable approval and disbursement of government’s fund under your administration was a testament to your bad leadership.
The handling of the kidnapping of the Chibok school girls and Boko Haram insurgency are an albatross on the neck of your administration.
Is it the US, Britain and France that made Nigerians to vote overwhelmingly for you in 2011? Is your victory in the 2011 presidential elections result of conspiracy?
I think you lost because you are not good enough and the same could happen to this administration if it failed to fulfill the promises it made before coming to power.
Please accept the responsibility for your failure, defeat and lick your wounds, passing the buck will not endear you to Nigerians.
