Felix Ikem, Nsukka
Professor Jona Onuoha has given an insight on what he believed was the reason the then American President, Barack Obama meddled in the 2015 general election against former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Prof. Onuoha who is the Director, Center for American Study, University of Nigeria and Professor of Political Science, said the former president of Nigeria was economical with the truth and wondered why he was not able to explain to the world through his book, “My Transition Hours” why Obama did what he did.
“Incidentally, Jonathan was not able to explain why Obama did what he did, I can tell you what happened.
“American has been showing much interest in domestic affairs of most countries in Africa, while the British Government came with the Bible in one hand and gun in the other hand, American government replaced the Bible with carrots, the carrots is the foreign aid, but God is with them. So most governments that have not been able to implement American’s foreign policy faced sanctions and regime change; Jonathan’s case was one of them.
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“There were two major things that happened during Obama’s administration. I will explain one, which is the most important. Obama moved around and lobbied United Nations members to solicit their support to get a two-state structure for Israeli – Palestinian. Jonathan assured him of Nigeria’s support. What Obama needed was nine country’s vote out of the fifteen to have a two- state structure. But another group came to Jonathan and convinced him that voting for a two- state structure would be a fight against Israel and Christians.
“At the end, Nigeria voted against the two state structure which left Obama with eight votes against his targeted nine vote.
“So, Obama saw that as a big betrayal despite America’s huge contributions to Nigeria and Africa’s development, that was when he plotted the regime change that would usher in a Nigerian president that would support and respect American foreign policy.
He went further to place arms sale embargo on Jonathan’s government, making it difficult for him to fight Boko Haram.
“Jonathan saw the handwriting on the wall that the 2015 election war against him was not only within the country, that was even the major reason he conceded defeat before the final result was announced. “Although, Jonathan is not the only victim of Obama’s plotted regime change, If you remember what happened in Libya during the time of Muammar Gaddafi you will find Obama’s foreign policy in Africa very brutal in economic terms.”
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