The British Government has refuted allegation by former President Goodluck Jonathan that its former Prime Minister, David Cameron, connived with other world leaders schemed him out office.
Jonathan in a new book launched on Friday, accused Cameron, former United States President, Barak Obama and other world leaders of aiding his rival, Muhammadu Buhari to win the last general election.
The British Government in a statement issued by its High Commission in Nigeria and signed by the Press and Public Affairs Officer, Mr. Joe Abuku, said that the election was a Nigerian project and that the British Government did not interfere with the polls in any way.
It said, “Prior to the 2015 elections in Nigeria, the UK engaged with Nigerian political parties and their leaders to urge them to run a fair, non-violent campaign and allow Nigerian voters to decide who their future political leadership would be. We congratulated President Jonathan on having handed over power peacefully in 2015 having lost the Nigerian Presidential elections.
“The elections were a credit to the Nigerian people and a truly historic moment for Nigerian democracy. This process further strengthened Nigeria’s democratic tradition.
“The UK welcomes the assessment of independent observers, including the EU, that Nigeria’s elections were largely peaceful and conducted in accordance with recognized international democratic norms, and that there was no evidence of systemic manipulation of the process,” the UK government said.
In a new book presented to the public in Lagos yesterday, former President Goodluck Jonathan said he lost the 2015 elections to local and international conspiracies. He named the United States, Britain, and France as the conspirators.
He blamed it all on former United States President Barack Obama, ex-British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande for aiding President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory. Dr. Jonathan also said he was disappointed by the conduct of the immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, in the weeks preceding the elections.
He said he conceded defeat to avoid bloodshed in view of a similar experience after the 2011 poll. 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 realize how far President Obama was prepared to go to remove me until France caved into the pressure from America.
“But weeks to the election, he had also joined the Americans in supporting the opposition against me. Asked of Obama’s grouse against him, Jonathan added:
“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.”