A common African proverb says that if the owl howled in the night and, in the morning, a calamity befalls within the radius, it becomes absolutely difficult, if not impossible, to absolve it of blame or complicity. Before now, there was a substantive doomsday prediction that the largest black democracy may not survive the rigours of electioneering for the last general elections in the country. This fear of disintegration was heightened and intensified by a report which the United States State Department reportedly issued, warning of a possible political cataclysm which was predicated on rancourous general elections in the country. But against all expectations and in spite of the fact that the elections, which were driven by rancorous propaganda, not only held successfully, a civilian-to-civilian transition was seamlessly achieved. As a matter of fact, this seamless transmission is what is driving international acclamation for the former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan as eminently qualified for a Nobel Peace Prize for being, perhaps, the first African leader to have voluntarily conceded victory in an election.
His example, which has been commended worldwide, narrowly pulled the country from the brink of possible political disaster which would have been triggered by any contest of the election results. As attested to by President Muhammadu Buhari, that singular action by Jonathan to call the victor and voluntarily concede defeat, thus under-cutting desperadoes who plotted to manipulate crisis to create chaos which, he said, would definitely have consumed the country. Certainly, Nigeria owes Dr Jonathan a debt of gratitude for that singular act of political maturity and foresight. This huge sense of gratitude has been re-inforced by sensational allegations that having failed to manipulate crisis from the expected residual angst from the elections, a subsisting international conspiracy against the country resorted to manipulating the human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, to sponsor wild allegations against the Nigerian military in its fight against insurgency. According to this argument, the expectation was that the country would not survive the rigours of the elections but having done so without possibility of disintegration, the conspiracy was stepped up, even widened, to exploit the instrumentality of hitherto credible platforms like Amnesty to legitimize a travesty which is what the hare-brained assault on the military amounts to.
‘They had thought that the country would not survive the 2015 elections or be able to manage the likely crisis that would result therefrom’, a source close to the alleged conspiracy said. Adding, the source said: ‘But they (alleged sponsors of the conspiracy), were surprised at the way the general elections was resolved without any crisis.’ According to the source, the United States particularly, for example, had been very vocal in its criticism of the country’s military campaign against Boko Haram since the insurgents began their indiscriminate attacks against the country. ‘When the terrorists were killing innocent civilians and destroying communities, Amnesty International did not issue any threat or complaint against the terrorists, except when the Nigerian military decided to fight back’, the source who is deeply-rooted in the intelligence community said.
According to him, such unwarranted attacks on the country’s military usually came whenever the military was making a head-way or pushed back the terrorists into the defensive. ‘You can recall that it was when the country wanted to buy arms from the U.S. to fight the randy Boko Haram terrorists that Amnesty International released its so-called damning report, accusing the military of human rights abuse. The U.S. consequently turned Nigeria’s request to buy arms from it down, citing Amnesty’s allegations as reason for its refusal’, the source further said. The latest report stepping up allegations of rights abuse against the military, the source further claimed, was coming on the heels of the promise made by the countries to support President Buhari when he met with the Prime Minister of the U.K., Mr David Cameron and U.S. representatives in London shortly before his inauguration. Citing an exclusive newspaper publication last Sunday that President Buhari successfully met with the British Prime Minister and was promised assistance ahead of the G7 Summit, the source querried the timing of the latest report by Amnesty which was targeted to cause Nigeria maximum diplomatic embarrassmentduring the G7 summit where the country expected further expressions of assistance by the international community. The timing of the latest report by Amnesty, most regrettably, was to ridicule the country and blackmail President Buhari in order to discourage him from his resolve to re-assert the country’s sovereignty which is seriously threatened.
