Nigeria’s abstinence from voting at the United Nation’s Security Council meeting on Wednesday is already causing ripples across the world.
Nigeria traditionally voted pro- Palestine but in a major shift abstained from voting on Wednesday which denied the Arab people one major vote needed to grant them statehood.
According report by Guardian newspaper of London, Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan and a few of his colleagues were ordered by the United States of America and Israel not to support the much sought statehood by Palestine. Jonathan was said to have received both phone calls and verbal orders from the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netenyahu, not to vote in support of a Palestinian state. And that order was carried out on Tuesday when Nigerian decline to vote at the United Nations Security Council meeting.
Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Prof. Joy Ogwu, based on instructions from home, absented from voting. So while Palestine required nine votes to attain statehood, it got only eight, with Nigeria, South Korea, Rwanda, the United Kingdom and Lithuania abstaining. The motion for the Pro-Palestine state was filed by Jordan upon agreement by 22 Arab states as well as the Palestinian authority. The Guardian of London reported: “Until shortly before the vote on Tuesday, council diplomats had expected the resolution to get nine yes votes.
“But Nigeria abstained, with its ambassador, U. Joy Ogwu, echoing the US position in saying that the path to peace lay ‘in a negotiated solution’. “One Palestinian source involved in the negotiations told the Guardian: ‘Even half an hour before the vote, Nigeria indicated it was committed to voting for the resolution. We knew that Rwanda, South Korea and Australia would not back it, but we believed Nigeria was on board.’ “The apparent change by Nigeria, which is a rotating member of the council, came after both the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and the US secretary of state, John Kerry, phoned the country’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, to ask him not to support the resolution. “A State Department spokesman said on Tuesday that Kerry had called a number of senior foreign officials, including Jonathan, before the vote. “Arriving at primary elections for leadership of his Likud party on Wednesday, Netanyahu confirmed he had spoken to both Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Jonathan before the UN vote. ‘I spoke with both of them,’ he told reporters. ‘They promised me personally that they would not support this decision and they stood by their words. That is what tipped the scales.’
“Netanyahu had a private meeting with the Nigerian president – seen by Israel as a potential ally on the security council – during the latter’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem in October.”
An online news portal, The Eagle, also reports that the Muslim Rights Concern has flayed Jonathan for not supporting the move by Palestine for statehood.
MURIC, in a statement by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, said the Jonathan administration has been showing anti-Muslim signs in recent times. Akintola said Muslims were being marginalised by the Jonathan administration.
The statement reads in full: “Nigeria yesterday abstained from voting during the United Nations deliberation on whether Palestine should be recognized as a full-fledged state. The abstention cost Palestine denial of the recognition just when it needed only one vote to scale through. Eight votes were secured by Palestine out of the mandatory nine votes as Nigeria refused to cast a vote. “The request to officially recognize Palestine as a state within the 1967 borders with full UN member benefits and state status throughout the international community was presented by Jordan on 30th December, 2014. Whereas Argentina, Chad, Chile, Jordan, Luxembourg, China, France and Russia (8 justice seeking countries) voted ‘Yes’ to a Palestinian state, only Australia and the United States voted ‘No’ while Nigeria joined Lithuania, South Korea, Rwanda and Britain in the abstention camp. “The Muslim Rights Concern is astounded by this conservative shift in Nigeria’s foreign policy. It is on record that Nigeria has always been in the forefront of Africa’s struggle for freedom, justice and equal rights.
The latest support for Zionist Israel which is notorious for killing unarmed civilians, women and children is therefore most baffling, uncharacteristically cowardly, highly reprehensible, long in impunity but short in principle. “Nigeria has always been known for its principled stand on international issues. This great African country confronted the apartheid regime of South Africa until it collapsed.
We did the same in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe and Angola. The basis has always been the promotion of fundamental human rights on the international scene. On what basis has Nigeria supported Israel this time around? “In retrospect, we are constrained to liken Nigeria’s decision to pitch tent with Israel to President Jonathan’s consistent disgust for Islamic norms and values, his unveiled desire to marginalize Muslims in the scheme of things and his unhidden mien for the debilitation of Muslims both locally and internationally. “The removal of Arabic Ajami from the newly introduced N100 note symptomises his lack of regard for Islamic norms and values. The under-representation of Muslims at the recently concluded national conference in which Muslims were a paltry 189 against 303 Christians and the failure of President Jonathan to redress the wrong is an eloquent testimony to the president’s anti-Muslim agenda. No single Muslim from South-West Nigeria was appointed into President Jonathan’s cabinet for three good years until the Muslims protested. Yesterday’s technical ‘vote’ for Israel on the issue of a Palestinian state filled President Jonathan’s anti-Muslim cup to the brim. “MURIC appeals to Muslims in the leadership cader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party to call the President to order. Nigeria is a multi-religious country and if we want enduring peace, whoever assumes the mantle of power here must be ready to treat both Christians and Muslims equally and fairly. A Muslim president who is openly discriminatory will do the Muslims more harm than good and vice versa. “Finally, we call on the international community to observe the trend in President Jonathan’s administration, particularly the way and manner he has sidelined Muslims and adopted far-reaching anti-Muslim policies. We charge the National Assembly to turn its attention to this insensitive and ignoble decision.”
