EEBEN Barlow, a private military contractor, has alleged that the Barack Obama government was responsible for the loss of the 2015 presidential election by President Goodluck Jonathan. He also provided a fresh insight as to why the war against Boko Haram insurgents still persists almost five years after incumbent Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, assumed office in 2015.
He said Buhari is responsible for the festering of Boko Haram sect today in the North east after he stopped the contract his company had with Nigeria as soon as Buhari became president.
He said the BH terrorists are still on the prowl and launching deadly attacks on innocent civilians and towns in the North East because of foreign interests. He disclosed this in an interview on Aljazeera.
Barlow, who is the chairman of specialized Tasks Training Equipment and Protection International, a foreign private Army, said their security outfit had successfully liberated and recaptured back several towns in Borno State from insurgents, prior to the inauguration of Buhari as President.
This confirmed the report of PRNigeria that during the tenure of Sambo Dasuki as the National Security Adviser, NSA, under President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerian troops with ‘foreign technical assistance’ recovered many towns and villages from Boko Haram terrorists in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States. Some of the liberated towns then included, but are not limited to, Abadam, Askira, Baga, Bama, Bara, Buni Yadi, Damboa, Dikwa, Gamboru-Ngala, Goniri, Gujba, Gulag, Gulani, Gwoza, Hong, Kala Balge, Konduga, Kukawa, Marte, Madagali, Michika, Monguno, Mubi, and Vimtim, among other communities. The special operation also recorded a massive invasion of Sambisa Forest where 234 abductees (women and children) were rescued on a single day, April 30, 2015.
But regrettably, the first thing the President did upon assuming office in 2015, according to Barlow, was to terminate their military contract in a bid to gratify the United States of America, who he said sponsored Buhari’s campaign.
He firmly asserted that the US actually sponsored Buhari’s campaign, noting that the 2015 campaign manager for PMB is from US.
“The administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan saw the war against insurgency, and especially the contract with our private Army has a veritable tool to regain popularity among the masses.
“But the then incoming president, Muhammadu Buhari, was heavily supported by the US, and one of his first mission as President after May 2015, was to terminate their contract,” he said.
Asked why he thinks the US will intervene to abort their operation which was yielding success, Barlow, who is the author of “Composite Warfare: The Conduct of Successful Ground Force Operations in Africa”, explained: “I am not saying the US is a bad country. I also understand their foreign interest. But one would have thought that with the threat Boko Haram posed to Nigeria’s territorial integrity, they should be a priority for any country desirous of helping Nigeria eliminate them.”
He maintained that foreign forces have only prolonged, rather than end violent conflicts in most African States.
Realnews reports that David Axelrod who was the architect of Barack Obama’s election and re-election campaign, was hired by then Nigeria’s opposition party, APC, to ensure victory for it’s Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
As at then, Nigeria sought aid from the White House for many initiatives, including the fight against Boko Haram. The Obama administration refused to do anything but play lip service to Nigeria’s requests. However, it used public and private channels to internationally magnify every failure Nigeria’s government experienced.
When Axelrod’s firm got involved with the campaign for Buhari, relations between the the two countries significantly deteriorated, with the US refusing to sell arms to Nigeria, a significant reduction in the purchase of Nigeria’s oil, and the cancellation of a military training agreement between Nigeria and the USA.
In turn, the Buhari led Nigerian opposition, used the US Govt’s position as validation for their claim that the Nigerian government was a failure.
In a February 9, 2015, article in the Washington Free Beacon (http://goo.gl/guDlSH), the extent of Axelrod’s involvement in manipulating Nigeria’s affairs is revealed.
“A political consulting firm founded by Obama administration confidante David Axelrod has been far more involved in backing controversial Nigerian presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari than previously disclosed…
“Axelrod’s firm, the Chicago-based AKPD, has admitted to doing work on behalf of Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) party in the past, but claimed to have ceased its ties in March 2014 after the Islamist terror group Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls.
However, emails sent between senior APC party members and advisers show that contrary to the firm’s claims, AKPD has quietly continued to perform political work on Buhari’s behalf as he fought to unseat former President Goodluck Jonathan.
In a series of messages between senior APC officials and advisers from September 2014 to late January 2015, AKPD polling and other work are repeatedly discussed.
“The meeting went well and the report well received. [Gov. Rotimi Amaechi] will meet with the AKPD team tomorrow to discuss the facilitation of the event but no dates fixed yet,” APC member Olubunmi Adetunmbi wrote in one September 23, email to top Buhari adviser Kayode Fayemi.
AKPD’s work is again mentioned in a separate chain of emails sent between Buhari’s running mate, Yemi Osinbajo, and adviser Fayemi.
“I also think the AKPD surveys also clearly showed that the South West is the battle ground for this election,” Osinbajo writes in a discussion about boosting election turnouts for the APC.
A third email chain from Jan. 21, shows APC leader Nasir El-Rufai discussing an “October 2014 AKPD poll” that he hoped to disseminate to “the team.”
Other sources on the ground and familiar with the APC’s campaign say that the party has been trying to keep AKPD’s ongoing work quiet. It is rumored that AKPD employees are being housed in an APC compound located in Lagos, according to multiple sources.
“The sense is they’re being hidden currently in Lagos,” said another insider on the ground who would only speak on background. “They’re trying to keep a very low profile.”
AKPD’s close ties to the Obama administration also has given rise to criticism from those who see the White House as meddling in the elections.
“They have been particularly careful not to be seen at all because of the perception of the connection between Axelrod and the president and what that would convey,” said one of the sources quoted above.”
It is shameful that the United States has chosen to blatantly involve itself in Nigeria’s partisan politics, not based on any sort of foreign policy principle, but on a need to ensure that Axelrod’s company got to deliver on one of it’s most lucrative foreign contracts, Washington Free Beacon wrote.
