An anonymously written Dec. 29 WorldNetDaily article states:
The former president of Nigeria, a Christian, is charging in his new book that President Obama was involved in “facilitating” the persecution of Christians by prodding voters there to adopt a Muslim-led government.
The Muslim, Muhammadu Buhari, was, in fact, elected, and he is being blamed for allowing “the persecution of Christians,” reports Breaking Israel News.
Goodluck Jonathan was Nigeria’s president from 2010-2015, and writes in his new book, “My Transition Hours,” that, “On March 23, 2015, President Obama himself took the unusual step of releasing a video message directly to Nigerians all but telling them how to vote … In that video, Obama urged Nigerians to open the ‘next chapter’ by their votes. Those who understood subliminal language deciphered that he was prodding the electorate to vote for the [Muslim-led] opposition to form a new government.”
Since WND can’t be bothered to tell the other side of the story, its readers won’t know that Jonathan’s claim is false.
Obama’s video did not advocate for one candidate over another; he asked “all leaders and candidates to make it clear to their supporters that violence has no place” in the election process, and he urged “all Nigerians from all religions, all ethnic groups and all regions to come together and keep Nigeria one.”
Further, Russell Brooks, an officer at the U.S. Consulate in Nigeria, pointed out that Jonathan mischaracterized what the Obama administration did for Nigeria, that the 2015 elections were, in fact, free and fair, and that the U.S. supports the democratic process, not a particular candidate.
WND, in its current decimated state, made the mistake of relying the right-wing Breaking Israel News for its claim, specifically a highly biased article by anti-Muslim Raymond Ibrahim ranting about a “genocide” of Christians in Nigeria and that Buhari is “facilitating jihad.” While one Christian group declined to endorse Buhari for re-election later this year, another Christian group has endorsed him.
WND also uncritically repeated Ibrahim’s claim that nomadic Fulani Muslims are killing Christian farmers in the country in the name of jihad; in fact, the Fulani themselves insist the conflict is about cattle, and one imam helped to save the lives of Christians in the conflict.
WND still hasn’t learned that publishing bogus claims doesn’t help fix its credibility issues.