More
revelations on the role played by the former President of United States of America (USA), Barack Obama,
in the 2015 presidential election has emerged.
A new book
on the election, which stringed together details of high wired moves and
strategic meetings that took place behind the scene at the instance of the
Obama administration, also revealed how the incumbent Governor of Gombe State,
Ibrahim Dankwambo, engaged the former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako
Nyako, in a meeting in the US over disagreement on former President, Goodluck
Jonathan.
The book
“Facts Verses Fiction “ written by former aide of President Jonathan, Reno
Omokri is yet to be formerly presented to the public. Omokri currently resides
in US. Chairman of This Day Editorial Board, Segun, had recently released a
book where he quoted Jonathan as blaming Obama for his defeat in the last
election.
Adducing
some reasons for Obama’s opposition to Jonathan’s reelection, the book claimed
that an investigation showed that the stand of Jonathan’s government on
same-sex marriage and strong opposition from the elite of the North played key
role in swaying Obama’s stand against the former president.
The author
detailed the meetings that convinced
Obama to move against Jonathan, declaring
that 12 Northern governors had sessions with top administration of Obama
.
He wrote: “
I tracked down Mr. Matthew T. Page who, until his resignation in 2016, was the
U.S. State Department’s top intelligence analyst on Nigeria.
Matthew Page
also served as Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Africa with the
National Intelligence Council. He sat in each of the meetings the 12 Northern
Nigerian governors attended, beginning from their meetings at the United States
Institute for Peace and, thereafter, their meetings at the State Department.”
He
continued: “In 2016, Mr. Page left the State Department and moved to Cambridge
in the United Kingdom from where he spoke to me. He was adamant that Mr.
Babangida
Aliyu’s version of the events at those meetings were not accurate and was keen to set the records
straight.
“According
to Mr. Page, the meetings were attended by 12 Northern governors of whom the
most vocal was the then governor of Adamawa state, Admiral Murtala Nyako.
Others at the meetings who voiced anti Jonathan sentiments were then Kano
governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto and Kashim Shettima of
Borno. The then governors of Kwara and Kogi were in attendance, but were
non-committal.”
Omokri
explained: “Mr. Page noted that the meetings at the United States Institute for
Peace were innocuous, but when the governors proceeded to the closed-door
sessions at the US State Department, things changed.
“According
to Mr. Page, present at the State Department meetings were Ambassador Linda
Thomas Greenfield, who was then the Assistant Secretary of State for African
Affairs in the Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs. Also present at
the meeting was the then number three man at the State Department, Ambassador
Thomas Alfred “Tom” Shannon Jr., acting Deputy Secretary of State of the United
States and the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
“At that
meeting, Admiral Murtala Nyako read out a memo he had written itemising the
case against Jonathan. He was so openly and almost violently against the
Jonathan administration in his speech that he had to be openly rebuked at the
meeting by the then Nigerian ambassador to the US, Ambassador Adebowale Adefuye
of blessed memory.”
“Admiral
Nyako’s belligerence against the Jonathan administration was so venomous that
it prompted a rebuttal from the Gombe state governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo,
who showed loyalty to the then Nigerian President. According to Mr. Page, this
prompted most of the other Northern governors present to turn on him.”
The book
further stressed “In my interview with him, Mr. Page revealed to me that after
the anti Jonathan tirades by these governors, they were shepherded to the White
House on March 18, 2014 for more meetings. Even though Mr. Page attended the
reception at the White House for the Northern governors, he did not make me
privy to who were at that particular meeting other than stating that the
governors met with then National Security Adviser, Susan Rice. Ms. Rice is
however a known Nigerian specialist and was the person who on July 7, 1998,
made the tea that the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 Nigerian
Presidential election, chief MKO Abiola, drank minutes before passing away
after reportedly foaming at the mouth.
“After the
meeting, the Obama White House released a statement which said, amongst other
things; “Rice and the governors discussed the need to bring an end to the
violence and insurgency in northern Nigeria; create broad-based economic
opportunity in the north and throughout Nigeria; protect and respect human
rights; strengthen democratic governance; and ensure that the 2015 election in
Nigeria are free and fair.”
“What the
White House statement did not say, but which I verified from other sources, was
that at that meeting, Admiral Nyako accused then President Jonathan of being
behind Boko Haram, the Islamic terrorist group that is behind the insurgency in
Nigeria’s Northeast (the same accusation was publicly made by Nasir El-rufai in
2014. El-rufai was one of a handle of All Progressive Congress party officials
that related directly with David Axelrod’s firm as AKPD Message and Media
prepared the
APC for the 2015 elections).”
On the
election , the author said “When I asked
Mr. Page if he thought that the Obama administration was opposed to the
re-election of the then Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, he paused and
said “my objective opinion is that it was not as if the administration was
against Jonathan. There were a few issues. The Obama administration was a bit
disappointed (I know that sounds paternalistic) but there were some issues they
felt let down on, and you have to remember that the Obama administration
supported the transfer of power to Jonathan in 2010. “The issues where the human rights situation in the Northeast
which has still not changed under Buhari and Diezani Alison-Madueke who they
felt should have been removed. There were some issues with some clauses in the
Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2013”.
“Mr. Page
continuing said “there were some at the embassy in Nigeria who were actually
anti Buhari because of his failure to call his followers to order and stop the
post-election violence of 2011”.
“Although he
listed three reasons why the Obama administration felt let down on by
Dr.Jonathan, my conversation with Mr. Page gave me a sense that the first two
reasons were just excuses and that the main reason was because of the Same Sex
Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2013.
“That issue
was a deal breaker for the Obama administration because of the strong support
they had from the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender) community for Mr
Obama’s re-election campaign of 2012.”
SUN NEWS
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