‘Abstention on Palestine driven by relations with Israeli’
How do you view the action of Nigeria to abstain from voting in the United Nations Security Council session for a Palestinian state?Nigeria has a relationship with Israel. Contracts have been awarded to Israelis which shows that Nigeria has some robust relationship with Israel. Several open and hidden efforts are being made to increase the […]
How do you view the action of Nigeria to abstain from voting in the United Nations Security Council session for a Palestinian state?
Nigeria has a relationship with Israel. Contracts have been awarded to Israelis which shows that Nigeria has some robust relationship with Israel. Several open and hidden efforts are being made to increase the level of participation of Israelis in Nigerian affairs.
So from that background, it is reasonable to assume that perhaps Nigeria didn’t want anything that would torpedo the relationship, that is why it kept a safe distance from the resolution so as to keep the relationship waxing stronger and stronger.
In other words, Nigeria, given the circumstances we found ourselves, we do need certain segment of international community and anything that would put us in the bad light, Nigeria ordinarily would want to avoid it.
So you are saying that the action of Nigeria to have abstained from voting is welcome?
I am not saying it is a welcome development, I am just trying to justify that sometime you avoid taking a hard-line on an issue because that might jeopardize your interest in the long run. And I am saying that Nigeria needs all the support it can garner from international community in solving her myriads of problem. So if Israelis are now being seen as people that can help in arresting security problem, in trying to solve problems relating to internet and cyber crime, it is sound to assume that Nigeria would not want anything to jeopardize that especially if what Nigeria is benefitting from Israel is playing side-by-side with what Nigeria is benefitting from the Arab world and the configuration of political power in Nigeria should also be a strong factor. That is how I want to put it.
How do you see the voting pattern, you see that US, Britain voted against it while Russia, Ukraine and other countries voted in support of Palestine?
There should be no surprise if you look at the Syrian crisis, you look at developments in Russia, Ukraine and stuffs like that. The dimension of voting patterns should not come to anybody as a big surprise. These days, it is more likely that Russia and allies would vote against anything that is desired by America.
So, Nigeria that has always tried to be non-aligned even though there is nothing like non-alignment now had to dance to the tune of their domestic circumstances and the domesticate circumstances these days would suggest that Nigeria should not be in the forefront of taking hard-line posture on any international event because of our disappointment with the western world and because of our continuous efforts to woo major aspects of international system to our side in managing our own crises.
So, what I am saying is that the behaviour of Nigeria cannot be divorced from internal crises that we have in the country. You cannot divorce it from the domestic environment. Ordinarily people would say Nigeria would go with the western world but beyond the western alliance, Nigeria does have some domestic problems which these days should see her not being in the forefront of global efforts at finding solution to global problems. That is the point I am just making.
The US in trying to justify its position says it believes that the ultimate path to peace between Israel and Palestine lies in a negotiated solution. Do you subscribe to that?
That is a coded statement, in the sense that there have always been talks between the two countries and America has been playing a major role. But what we always say is that we have permanent interest, not permanent friends in international system. So given the complexity of US politics and its global agenda generally, definitely the country is bound to speak with both sides of their mouth. So I don’t think the voting was imposed, it was actually negotiated one way or the other but it is not in America’s best interest to go all out and say, “Cede it to Palestinians”.
You need to know the complexity of American society, the Jews have a commanding height, they are in the commanding height of the economy. So, putting all this together, America would try to be ambivalent, would try to be un-care, her position would keep on shifting from one post to the other so as to accommodate domestic interests within the American state.
In other words, American position has to do with her own perception of developments in her country and around the world. And that is why we always say that when it matters most, America would disappoint its allies because of her own personal interest.