Nigeria’s dramatic turn against Palestinians

Reacting to Nigeria’s abstention from voting in favour of the motion, the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) accused the Nigerian government of betrayal. Speaking for the NSCIA; Prof IshaqOloyede who is the Council’s Secretary General described the action as a step against freedom. “What Nigeria has done”, he said, “is not only a […]

Reacting to Nigeria’s abstention from voting in favour of the motion, the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) accused the Nigerian government of betrayal. Speaking for the NSCIA; Prof IshaqOloyede who is the Council’s Secretary General described the action as a step against freedom. “What Nigeria has done”, he said, “is not only a summersault on its foreign policy but also a slap on the lovers of freedom all over the world”; adding that such an action is condemnable.
The Executive Chairman of the Public Affairs Center, DisuKumor, said in a statement that “Not only does Nigeria’s refraining from this historic opportunity to promote peace and justice at the UN failed to represent the sentiments of Nigerians, it is reprehensible that our government has forced us to be silent in the face of injustice”.
Nigeria’s nonparticipation in the voting which helped to thwart the resolution calling for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by 2017 did not only expose the country’s conspiracy against the desire of the Palestinian people to live in a peaceful state of theirs but further reveals the sudden contradiction in Nigeria’s foreign policy. As a member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), Nigeria’s abstention from voting actually violated numerous resolutions passed at the Islamic organisation’s summits. Nigeria’s no-vote position clearly contradicts the country’s decision in 2014 which backed the admission of Palestine as an Observer State at the UN. Besides, Nigeria while upholding its oft-stated pro-justice and fairness principles in foreign relations, had repeatedly voted in favour of Palestinians at the UN.
The assertion by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he had called Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame to help frustrate the Palestinian bid gives credence to the insinuation that accuses the country’s leadership of conspiracy. Netanyahu is quoted to have expressed appreciation to the two African leaders saying, “I spoke with both of them. They told me and promised me, personally, that they would not support this resolution. They kept their word, and that’s what clinched this matter. I think this is important for the State of Israel”.
The picture of Nigeria’s conspiracy becomes obvious when certain antecedents and other deliberate factors are put in to context. Israel, for instance, was one of the first nations of the world to offer Nigeria help in its fight against insurgency. Israel also cooperates with Nigeria in the areas of agriculture, construction, communication and intelligence. President Jonathan who went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem last year became the first sitting President of Nigeria to visit Israel.
It would be recalled that Palestine is a land that used to include what is now called Israel as well as the occupied territories. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria and Jordan in the west, and the Mediterranean Sea in the east. It touches Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the south. The present plight of Palestinians began 66 years ago after the creation in 1948 of a Jewish State out of Palestinian land. This followed the UN General Assembly recommendation of 1947 in favour of the creation of a Jewish State, which was indeed outside the competence of the Assembly under the Charter of the UN.
The occupation of Palestinian lands by Israelis led, after the declaration of an Independent State of Israel on May 14, 1948, to a large number of Palestinians becoming refugees. By the year 2,000 (after 52 years of persecution and denied fundamental human rights  including freedom), the number of Palestinian refugees had increased to about 5 million; the largest number anywhere in the world. Many Palestinians still live in overcrowded squalid camps not only in the occupied territories but also in neighbouring countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Before then, the Palestinian Arabs owned about 97.5% of the land while the Jews (which comprised of native Palestinians and immigrants) lived on 2.5% area of the land.
Many of the oppressed people of Palestine have in the past six and half decades of struggle been rendered homeless by the armour-tanks of Israeli soldiers; turning many Palestinian children, who were equally not spared by Israeli bullets and grenades, in to orphans. By the judgement of the hypocritical international community including the western media, Palestinians are wrong in their self-determination struggle while Israel is naturally right! Even when Israel is outrightly seen to be on the offensive, Palestinians are yet accused of being aggressive. When Israeli soldiers shoot at Palestinians, it is called “retaliation”; but when Palestinians defend themselves with pebbles, it is called “terrorism”.
Amazingly, the casualty suffered by Palestinians has never daunted their struggle for freedom from persecution even after the demise of Yasser Arafat, the extolled political leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). They may have been inspired by Allah (SWT)’s assertion in Qur’an 9:111 which reads “Allah has purchased of the Believers their lives and their goods for theirs (in return) is the Garden (of Paradise)…”. May Allah (SWT) guide and help the oppressed people of Palestine to victory, with or without Nigeria’s vote and goodwill; amin.