Statehood bid at the UN Nigeria abstains, Palestine loses

A “yes” vote would have paved the way to compel Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip which dated back to1967.The resolution drafted by the Palestinians and backed by Arab countries would have also paved the way to a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capitalThe […]

A “yes” vote would have paved the way to compel Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip which dated back to1967.
The resolution drafted by the Palestinians and backed by Arab countries would have also paved the way to a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital
The Palestinians needed nine votes in the 15-member Security Council but fell short of one when at the crucial moment Nigeria’s envoy Joy Ogwu, abstained from voting.
China, France and Russia were among the eight countries that voted in favour of the text.
Other countries who supported the resolution are Argentina, Chad, Chile, Jordan and Luxembourg.
Australia and the United States voted against, and five other countries – Nigeria, Britain, Lithuania, the Republic of Korea and Rwanda – abstained.
Diplomatic sources said Nigeria had been expected to support the resolution and changed its stance at the last minute. Nigeria had previously said it would vote for the resolution.
Daily Trust reports that Nigeria had in September 2011 through the then Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru  (now late) reiterated her decision to support Palestinians’ bid for UN membership as a sovereign state.
Ashiru told journalists at the UN General Assembly in New York that Nigeria preferred “a solution whereby two states, Palestine and Israel, will live peacefully side-by-side’’.
He said Nigeria recognised the state of Palestine since 1984 and that its ambassador had been resident in the country since then.
“Our stand and policy is very clear and there is no change in our position,” Ashiru said at the time, adding that Jonathan’s separate meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, did not change Nigeria’s position.
It has been a long standing resolution of Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and now African Union (AU) to stand by the  Palestinians in their quest for statehood. In the past decades Nigeria had always voted in that spirit at the UN until this Tuesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised Nigeria and Rwanda for abstaining, just as it lauded the United States and Australia for voting against the motion.
“I want to express appreciation and gratitude to the United States and Australia, as well as special appreciation to the President of Rwanda, my friend Paul Kagame, and to the President of Nigeria, my friend Goodluck Jonathan,” Netanyahu said when he arrived Wednesday morning to vote in the Likud primary.
“I spoke with both of them, they promised me personally that they would not support this decision, and they stood by their words. That is what tipped the scales,” he added.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose diplomatic ties in Africa were also said to be instrumental in swinging the Rwanda and Nigeria votes, said “the Palestinian failure should teach them that provocation and attempts to force unilateral concessions on Israel will lead nowhere, quite the opposite.”
However, Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour accused the council of failing to shoulder its responsibilities and vowed to seek other avenues to gain recognition.
“The Palestinian people and the world can no longer wait. That message, despite the regrettable outcome today, is especially clear,” he told the council.
Palestine shocked at Nigeria’s abstinence on UN
Palestine Ambassador to Nigeria Montaser Abuzaid, yesterday said his country and its people were shocked, disappointed and hurt at how Nigeria abstained from voting in support of the resolution to end Israeli occupation.
Speaking with Daily Trust in Abuja yesterday Abuzaid said they were shocked because they looked up to Nigeria as a big brother that has been in the forefront fighting for justice all over the world.
“We respect Nigeria so much because it was one of the first countries that recognized the Palestine state since 1988 and it has been supporting all resolutions concerning our state but my country and our people are shocked with the abstinence at the UN Security Council yesterday
“More than a month ago, I contacted the Nigeria ministry of foreign affairs and asked them if they will vote for us and they promised to. Also yesterday, when my minister of Foreign Affairs called me to know Nigeria’s stand on the issue on Tuesday, I called three different people to know if they will vote for us and they promised me that they will but I was surprised to wake up this morning and see that the decision was changed,” Abuzaid said.
The envoy said Nigeria is known and respected for its support for justice adding that abstinence is not in the foreign policy of the country and that was why they were shocked and sad because they see Nigeria as a big brother.
He added that his country will continue with the bilateral relations between both countries but they were disappointed since to them the abstention means they support continued occupation of their territory.
Effort to get official response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja proved abortive as the top officials were not available to answer questions on the matter.
Meanwhile, sources at the ministry who spoke to Daily Trust off record, said the abstention does not mean Nigeria is against the resolution adding that Nigeria foreign policy on the issue of Israel- Palestine remains the same.
“Nigeria still recognize Palestine as a state but abstention should not be interpreted as being against Palestine, no. We recognize two states and that’s what we still stand for,” the sources remarked.
Another source at the Nigeria Permanent office in New York who spoke with our reporter on Telephone repeated the same thing saying Nigeria still maintains same foreign policy on the issue of Palestine.
“Nigeria has been calling for balance of opinion and policy between Palestine and Israel so that it will not be seen as being one sided on the issue because Israel has been supporting Nigeria in the fight against terrorism and so Nigeria has to be careful on the side it takes,” he said
However some foreign policy analysts contacted by Daily Trust expressed shock at Nigeria’s decision at the UN Security Council saying Nigeria has no reason to follow United States’ foreign policy or the Israelis’.
“Why has Nigerian foreign policy turned to another thing; is Nigeria afraid of the US? It is very annoying and disappointing and irresponsible on Nigeria’s part,” some of the analysts commented.