The United States Saturday denied influencing President Goodluck Jonathan to order the arrest of former Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole.
A top official of the US Embassy in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Claussen, told THISDAY during a telephone interview Saturday that at no time did the US meddle in the internal affairs of Nigeria.
His denial is against the backdrop of a report by a newspaper (not THISDAY) that the US pressurised Jonathan to order Bankole’s arrest.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission last Sunday arrested the former speaker in Abuja ahead of his promise to honour the commission’s invitation the next day.
The newspaper, quoting what it called a diplomatic cable, said the US arm-twisted Jonathan to order the arrest of Bankole, whom he referred to as “a principal supporter of mine.”
It claimed the cable detailed what transpired during a meeting between the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Terence McCulley, US Undersecretary for African Affairs, Mr. Johnnie Carson and Jonathan, two days before Bankole’s arrest.
But Claussen described the report as “comical,” adding that nothing like that happened.
McCulley and Carson had reportedly met with Jonathan at an undisclosed venue and assured him that although Washington would like to improve ties with Abuja, it was worried with the level of corruption in the country.
They had allegedly accused the Jonathan administration of interfering with the work of the EFCC, adding that the government had made it difficult for the commission to arrest Bankole who was accused of mismanaging the funds of the House.
The report said Jonathan initially refused to order Bankole’s arrest because, according to him, the allegations were “a campaign of calumny” being championed by “a faceless online site” and “I’m not going to let a principal supporter of mine to be hounded out of office or to be disgraced because some faceless online site is posting rubbish about him.”
However, he was said to have changed his mind when the ambassador and Carson arm-twisted him.
McCulley reportedly told him that President Barack Obama was monitoring developments in Nigeria and he would not likely visit the country “under this cloud” of corruption.
The report quoted the cable as saying that Carson, on his part, promised to make Obama have audience with Jonathan during his planned trip to New York for a conference on HIV/AIDS if he did not stop EFCC from arresting the former speaker for questioning.