IN a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. In the Nigerian context, political conspiracy can be defined as an amalgamation of entrenched parochial interest of a cabal or cartel to keep exploiting the nation at the overall expense of the masses.

The emergence of Goodluck Jonathan as Nigeria’s President five years ago via divine orchestration, was greeted with a lot of positivism termed “Breath of Fresh Air”. But the cabal which see Nigeria as an extension of their private estate swore to high heavens that they would never be alive and watch this man from the “creek” restructure this country which would shake so many of them off their privileged positions as political war lords and economic merchants.

Prior to 2011 general elections, the overwhelming cloud of conspiracy started gathering when some disgruntled elements of Northern extraction began threatening to make this country ungovernable if President Jonathan won the 2011 election. The subsequent destruction of lives and properties by BokoHaram insurgents in the North today is seen as a fulfilment of that threat which forms part of well-hatched grand conspiracy to frustrate President Jonathan out of power during 2015 presidential election.

It is very unfortunate and disgusting that the international community, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC; APC; the Northern Elders Forum, the Media, ex-Generals, etc, have all bought into this anti-Nigerian plot to rig President Jonathan out of power at all cost not minding the consequences this for the survival of a fragile state like Nigeria.

The fact that President Jonathan is a Christian from the oil-rich Niger Delta fuels this conspiracy theory that the “wrong” person is occupying the seat of power in Aso Rock, exclusively reserved for the children of born-to-rule advocates. This beleaguered mindset that President Jonathan was born on the “wrong” side of the country is the main reason the Nigerian military initially found it very difficult to defeat insurgency in the North. The moles which infested the military worked against the government’s efforts to defeat insurgency.

It is no longer news that Boko Haram is a political creation of Northern elites in conjunction with international Western powers to force President Jonathan out of office by portraying Nigeria as a nation under the leadership of a weak leader who is unable to protect its citizens against Boko Haram. The opposition party, the APC, is also perceived in some quarters as part of this conspiracy to use insurgency as a strong campaign instrument to push President Jonathan and the PDP out of government. Unfortunately, this menace has become an ill wind that is blowing no one any good. It is very condemnable the way and manner the APC has been discrediting the Nigerian military in the eyes of the international community as a weak force without considering the fact that terrorism is a global challenge, that all hands must be on deck to defeat it.

These are some of the thought-provoking and mind-illuminating questions plaguing the anxious minds of patriotic Nigerians whose allegiance are not to any political party, religion, sectional interest but the Nigerian state: Who are the sponsors of BokoHaram? Why are Northern Elders sympathetic to these miscreants? Why would they demoralise the military by attacking its modus operandi whenever the Army is recording successes against insurgents? Why would America refuse to sell arms and ammunition to Nigerian and also going ahead to block the country from purchasing arms from other countries? Why is United States supplying arms and technical assistance to other countries fighting similar terrorist groups like Islamic State, IS, Taliban and Al-shabab but decline to help Nigeria to fight BokoHaram?

Why are Western media houses like CNN, BBC, The Economist, Washington Post, New York Times, etc, always coming up with fictitious stories in order to discredit the Nigerian government under President Jonathan? What offence has President Jonathan committed against the Western powers, especially the United States and Britain? Is it because he refused to surrender Nigeria’s sovereignty to former colonial masters, whose interests are not being service by President Jonathan’s administration? Is President Jonathan’s administration closeness to rival world powers like China and Russia inciting Western powers against him?

Why will a so-called beacon of democracy in the world be conniving with the APC to help a former dictator who truncated Nigeria’s democracy in 1983 to emerge as Nigerian President under a democratic setting? Will the American government wish someone whose antecedents are like that of Gen.Buhari to become a governor in the US, let alone a president? Why are they wishing Nigerians what they could not wish themselves? Why did the US government react angrily when elections were postponed in Nigeria, knowing full well that the electoral umpire was not ready as claimed by Prof. Attahiru Jega? Are they supporting the APC and INEC to rig President Jonathan out of power against the wishes of Nigerians? Only well-thought-out answers to these burning questions would assuage the agitated minds of Nigerians.

The Nigerian Media which is supposed to be the Fourth Estate of the Realm has bought into this conspiracy to undermine the present administration by under-reporting all its transformational strides that cut across every facet of the economy; while delighting in highlighting all the perceived weaknesses of the government. One may ask, why the Nigerian media celebrates the barbaric actions of Boko Haram members, at the same time being hostile to the military through the information they churn out for public consumption. These unpatriotic actions portray these media houses not only as wicked but anti-Nigeria.

The allegiance of every media organisation should be to protect the image and integrity of this country irrespective of who is in control of the government, not aligning with the international media to tarnish the image of our country.

Mr. Nwobodo Chidiebere, a public affairs analyst,  wrote from Abuja.