Many maybe unaware that the on-going bruising battle between the United States (US) and the United Nations (UN) over the former’s unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is not the first altercation triggered by President Donald Trump. Earlier in the year, the Trump administration had tried to bully the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) into submission over the issue of Jerusalem.
UNESCO was established on November 16, 1945 to build peace in the world employing education, science and culture, promoting human rights and integrating world values. As part of its mandate, it resolved in December, 2016 to ask Israel to rescind all legislative and administrative  measures capable of “altering  the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem” and to rethink its occupation of East Jerusalem. The Trump administration which came into office a month later, described the UNESCO resolution as an  “anti-Israeli bias” and demanded it be rescinded.  When this was not forthcoming, the American Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson  wrote on October 12, 2017 withdrawing the US from UNESCO.
On  December 6, Trump made his declaration recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by deciding to move  the US embassy to the city contrary to a standing fifty-year declaration by the UN that the Palestinians have a right to a state and that the status of East Jerusalem, seized by Israel in 1967 will be determine by international negotiations.
There was outrage across the world and in two weeks, the US was forced to face the consequences of its act; it was shunned   even by the tinniest of nations and its allies, forced to explain and defend its  positions and humiliated. It started with the Monday December 18, 2017 meeting of the UN Security Council which voted that any recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital “must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council” Fourteen members voted for while the US alone voted for itself. To stop the   overwhelming majority decision, the US used the veto. It was the first US veto in six years. US Representative to the UN, Nikki Haley almost apologetically said of the veto: “This is not something that the United States does often… We do it with no joy, but we do it with no reluctance. The fact that this veto is being done in defense of American sovereignty and in defense of America’s role in the Middle East peace process is not a source of embarrassment for us; it should be an embarrassment to the remainder of the Security Council.” In truth it was both an embarrassment and humiliation for  the US. To underscore this, President Trump lamented:  “All of these nations that take our money and then they vote against us at the Security Council or they vote against us, potentially, at the Assembly, they take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us”
Following  a call for a vote in the UN General Assembly to pooh-pooh the American veto,  Trump threatened: “Well, we’re watching those votes… Let them vote against us; we’ll save a lot. We don’t care.”
With the General Assembly  vote slated for Thursday December 21, America went into a panic mood. This had been heightened by the fact the day after the Security Council vote, the General Assembly had by  176 – 7 votes, reaffirmed  the right of the Palestine to a state and self-determination. To stave off the looming disaster and shame, the Americans wrote an ill-advised letter of threat   and intimidation to all countries warning them of dire consequences if they dared vote against the US. The letter signed by Haley told them: “As you consider your vote, I encourage you to know the President and the US take this vote personally.   The President will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those who voted against us”  It was like a primary school Head Teacher warning pupils that the Headmaster was watching.
Predictably, many countries were incensed. The  Bolivian Representative , Sacha Llorenty told Harley that the first name in her black book should be  Bolivia. The Republic of Botswana responded in a letter: “Botswana will not be intimidated by such threats  and will exercise  her sovereign right and vote  based on her foreign policy principles  which affirm that Jerusalem is a  fundamental  final status issue, which must  be resolved through negotiations  in line with the relevant  United Nations resolutions. Despite the consequences, Botswana  encourages all Member  States  of the United Nations to support  the resolution on the Status of Jerusalem”
The scenario reminds me of American threats in a January 3, 1975 letter signed  by then President  Gerald Ford warning African countries not to recognize the MPLA Government in Angola. In response,  the Nigerian Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed had mounted the Organisation of African Union (OAU) rostrum to denounce America and declare: ” Africa has come of age. It’s no longer under the orbit of any extra continental power. It should no longer take orders from any country, however powerful.”
Last week, the UN  General Assembly  resolution urged nations to “refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions” in Jerusalem and accept  the  consensus under international law  that East Jerusalem should be the future capital of a Palestinian state. When the vote was taken, 128 countries voted against America and only 9 voted for with 35 abstentions. The American humiliation was complete as its traditional allies like France, Britain, Germany and Japan voted against it as did countries under American military occupation like Iraq and Afghanistan.   The disgrace was worsened by the fact that only five countries of substance voted for US; America itself, Israel, two Latin American countries, Guatemala and Honduras, and the black leg in Africa, Togo. The four other votes came from tiny countries dependent on America; Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau!
An obviously confused Harley declared the UN vote “null and void” The Americans railed “We will remember it when we are called upon once again to make the world’s largest contribution to the United Nations”
Although a bumbling   apprentice President with no flare for learning anything new, nobody can dispute the fact that Trump is experienced in the stocks, except that he has ran down the American international stocks so much that it might  achieve a junk status by the time he leaves power or power leaves him.
The US has obviously become   a drag on the UN and world peace. Since it considers itself as the world, I wonder when it will depart the UN in peace as it did UNESCO. Please let us meet next week on ‘The Day the US departs  the UN’
- II) When 2018 comes, let us thank God we survived.
By Owei Lakemfa.
Tens of millions of Nigerians are in dire need. They do not know where the next meal will come from.  They are not lazy, but there are no jobs. So when two industrial giants in a largely deindustrialized country take on each other in a fratricidal war, the death knell is sounded for thousands of jobs and their linkages. This  unfolding tragedy is just a few days to the end of the year. This will doubtlessly  be followed by hunger for the victims and their dependents.
BUA International Limited is a producer of foods including  sugar, rice, pasta, flour and  edible oils. Its tentacles extend to  steel, real estate, ports, terminals and cement.
Some years ago, it acquired the Sokoto and Edo Cement companies. In the case of the latter, BUA  inject  US$500 million for a 2.5 million new production line which will bring its production to  2.9 million metric tons.
But its production is being halted  in a bruising fight with another cement giant, Dangote Cement which has three plants in the country and is expanding into thirteen other African countries. Dangote accused BUA of illegal mining. It claimed to have an April 27, 2016 injunction seeking to restrain BUA from further mining in the area. It claims ownership of  the sites in Obu, Okpelle.  Its ownership rights it claims, are based on its acquisition of its predecessor company, AICO Ado Ibrahim and Company. Dangote claims that the   lease granted BUA by the Edo State Governor is null and void as only the Federal Government can grant such license.
On its part, BUA claims that Dangote is a predatory company which like the vulture, is feeding on carcasses and engaging in underhand dealings. It said that the recent claims against it: ” …by Dangote Group stinks of desperation in its continued attempt to disregard the judicial process and scheme a viable competitor out of business as has been their legendary antecedent.” BUA claims that it has been operating the mines since 1976  when it was known as the Bendel Cement Company. It claims to have its own court ruling which directed that the status quo ante (which recognizes its operations) should  be maintained. However,  Edo State Governor  Obaseki announced that the Federal Ministry has asked that the disputed mines be shut-down. So  he directed security agents to ensure the closure in order to maintain security.
In the midst of all these, walked in a delegation  of the host community with the wisdom of Solomon. The people  are beneficiaries of the mining and are aware that poverty will increase with the closure. They know  that when two elephants fight, it is primarily they, the grass that will suffer. They proposed that rather than stop work, both BUA and Dangote can mine in the area. They told Governor Obaseki a truth; that the court process he wants to resolve the dispute can take eternity, and in any case, it would only produce a winner and a loser. They want an Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism that will not only save jobs but increase them, and ensure a win-win outcome for all.
This is wisdom springing from a community, and  hopefully, the Federal and State Governments will soak themselves in it. However, as things stand, the mine is being closed, jobs are slipping away and many of the workers  and ancillary beneficiaries in the EDO BUA  may enter 2018 without an income.
That is how tough it has become to be a Nigerian; the struggle for survival is intense. The Year 2018 is so near, yet so far. There are likely to be Nigerians who would be kidnapped from their homes for ransom. When I was young, in almost all cases, those kidnapped were children who can be enticed with sweets and free food. Now the targets are adults who can pay or whose families can pay ransom. Sometimes, even when ransom is paid, the victim is murdered. Nigerians are kidnapped anywhere; on the road, at work, in farms, leisure spots  and in their homes. Also, the preferred currency of ransom for the major players in  the  kidnap industry, is  the dollar. With the rise of such crimes as kidnapping, trafficking in drugs and human beings, armed robbery is no longer an issue. Unless it is on a big scale like holding up a number of banks, it goes virtually unreported.
I recall the first time I came across a thief; the man rifled past me as if the devil was on his heels, shortly after,  a policeman followed and all around me concluded that luck had ran out for  the thief. Once the police was on his trail, he had no chance of escape. In those days, thieves operate mainly in the dead of the night and any alarm  raised, led to their scampering away. But we are now in the nuclear age where robbers can write  letters to whole streets or a neigbourhood giving  notice that they would be the victims of their operation on a particular day.
The challenges we face as Nigerians include a brutal terror war unleashed by the Boko Haram who hardly take prisoners.  There are the quite bloody ‘Herdsmen-Farmers’ clashes across the country in which sometimes, whole villages are sacked. Despite the massacres,  I do not know of people undergoing trial for these grisly crimes against humanity.
As the Christmas and New Year holidays set in, we are not sure of power supply. The electricity companies are gods that demand  excessive payments through crazy bills, refuse to supply meters, especially pre-paid ones, and to which over N1.3 Trillion public funds have been paid as sacrifice. Yet they are insatiable.  Now we face new challenges; unending fuel shortages that has made travelling during this festive period, a nightmare. If we have a fundamental right to movement, and there is no fuel in our vehicles, how do we exercise such a right?
During the  three-year Civil War (1967-70) life was so brutish and short that people behind rebel lines learnt to live one day at a time. Death stalked the land, kwashiorkor reigned just as bombs did. There  was so much uncertainty that people greeted themselves “Happy survival”  When 2018 comes, let us thank God we survived. I wish you happy survival.
Written by Owei Lakemfa.
