A former United States of America (USA) official, Mr. Matthew T. Page, has revealed more information on the role immediate past President Barack Obama may have played to remove ex-President Goodluck Jonathan from office.
Jonathan had in “Against Run of Play”, a book by Segun Adeniyi, alleged that Obama conspired with other international leaders against him in the build up to the 2015 elections, which as incumbent, he lost to Muhammadu Buhari.
Also in the same book, a former governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, revealed that the State Department invited 12 northern governors to Washington to seek their support on the need to achieve regime change in Nigeria during the 2015 Presidential election.
Making more revelation on the role Obama and US government may have played in that election, Page, a top intelligence analyst, who was part of the Obama’s administration said in an interview with Jonathan’s former aide, Reno Omokri, that he was part of the meeting between 12 northern governors and the US State Department.
Page’s disclosure is contained in Omokri’s soon to be launched book entitled “Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years: Chibok, 2015 and Other Conspiracies”.
According to Omokri, the book, slated to be released in June 2017 will provide details of the US meeting which was said to have begun at the State Department and ended in the White House.
Page, who made more details on what transpired in the alleged involvement of Obama in the election, was Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Africa with the US National Intelligence Council and U.S. State Department’s top intelligence analyst on Nigeria. He resigned in 2016.
Page is said to have claimed in the coming book that “at that meeting, former governor of Taraba State, Admiral Murtala Nyako read out a memo he had written itemizing 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.”
Speaking on if truly the Obama’s administration was against Jonathan’s second term bid, Mr. Page said: “My objective opinion is that it was not as if the administration was against Jonathan. There were a number of issues. The Obama administration was a bit disappointed (I know that sounds paternalistic) but there were some issues they had felt let down on.
“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”.
Omokri further hinted in the book, “Another interesting connection is that these high level meetings arranged for Northern governors by the Obama administration took place in 2014, at the same time that Obama confidant and former White House Senior Advisor, David Axelrod’s firm, AKPD Message and Media, began to work as a paid consultant for the then Nigerian opposition party, All Progressives Congress.”
According to the book “sublimal messages were communicated by President Obama” in the special broadcast he made to Nigerians on March 28, 2015, calling on them to come out and vote.
Recall that Jonathan had said in his reaction to some of the responses by some characters in the book “Against the Run of Play” that a true account of what transpired could only come from the key actors in the election.
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