NIGERIA is under a rising diplomatic pressure from both the United States (U.S.) and Israel not to support the expected Palestinian statehood request tomorrow at the United Nations Security Council.

Although President Goodluck Jonathan is in New York for the yearly General Assembly summit, he has been holding meetings on the issue of the Palestinian statehood, which has been dominating the ongoing UN meetings here in New York alongside the Libyan crisis.

As soon as Jonathan arrived in New York for the ongoing UN yearly summit on Monday night, he received both the U.S. Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton and the Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, in what diplomats at the UN are calling intense diplomatic manoeuver to secure Nigeria’s support when the Palestinians send their request for statehood recognition to the Security Council tomorrow.

The Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, has already indicated that he would be asking the Council to recognise the Palestinian State tomorrow and by yesterday, U.S. President Barack Obama was billled to hold bilateral talks with Abbas in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly debate which opened yesterday morning.

The talks between Obama and Abbas are said to be aimed at how the U.S. can get the Palestinians to rescind their decision to table the statehood request to the Council.

Under the UN charter, such a request is to be tabled before the Security Council, which would then recommend a decision for the approval of the UN General Assembly.

But the Americans who have vowed to use their veto to stop the request in line with the American traditional protection of Israel is seeking to try to get some other Security Council members like Nigeria to vote against the request if and when it is tabled.

If the request does not enjoy the majority of the 15-member Council, then the U.S. will not need to use its veto. To accomplish that, there has to be eight members of the council opposed to the request.

On Tuesday, Barak was the first to hold a closed-door meeting with President Jonathan in New York, where Barak asked for Nigeria’s support of Israel by opposing the request as a member of the Security Council.

At the meeting, informed sources said that Barak tried to persuade Jonathan to vote against the bid of the Palestinians. However, Jonathan has not committed the country to any line of action, according to Federal Government’s officials.

Again yesterday evening at his hotel in Ritz Carlton, New York, President Jonathan received Hillary Clinton, accompanied by the U.S. Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Susan Rice and the American top diplomat on Africa, Dr. Johnnie Carson, on the same issue, seeking to get Nigeria to support the Americans in stopping the Palestinian statehood request.

Top officials said yesterday that while President Jonathan was yet to formally decide a line of action, he would be conferring with his foreign affairs advisers and senior diplomats to ensure that Nigeria’s own peculiar interests and security were weighed in, in the decision the Federal Government would ultimately take over the matter.

An informed source in New York disclosed that Nigeria would likely abstain considering the fact that in matters concerning Israel and the Palestinians, Nigeria has remained neutral.

One of U.S. major TV networks yesterday morning, National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), in its major daily news programme featured a video report of the U.S. Secretary of State and her delegation being received by President Jonathan.

With Jonathan at the Clinton meeting yesterday night were the Foreign Affairs Minister, Olugbenga Ashiru; Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji; Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezanni Alison-Madueke; Nigeria’s Ambassador to the U.S., Prof. Adebowale Adefuye, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Joy Ogwu and the Presidential Spokesperson/Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.

Reporting on the Barak meeting with the Nigerian President on Tuesday in New York, the Jerusalem Post said the Israeli Defence Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday “that Ehud Barak has convinced Nigeria not to support the Palestinian statehood bid.”

The report added that “as part of the lobbying efforts, Defence Minister Ehud Barak met in New York Tuesday with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. The meeting between the two was set up about a week ago, and - according to the statement put out by Barak’s office - was coordinated both with (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and the U.S.”

But neither the American nor the Nigerian governments have issued any statement so far regarding the closed-door diplomatic negotiations about the expected request of the Palestinians for statehood.

According to the Israeli report, in addition to discussing the Palestinian issue, the statement said the two – Jonathan and Barak -also discussed the “challenges of international terrorism and ways the two countries can cooperate in this area.”

But even the Jerusalem report also noted that “Nigeria, one of Israel’s closest friends in Africa, has been plagued over the last number of years by radical Islamic terrorism,” indicating how this may be a difficult decision for the Federal Government to make.

Other African countries on the UN Security Council currently are Gabon and South Africa, both of whom are believed would be supporting the Palestinian bid for statehood recognition at the UN.

If the Security Council of the UN rejects – as the U.S. has threatened to impose its veto  - the Palestinians can proceed to the General Assembly to seek a non-member observer status which countries like Switzerland had actually used before it eventually became a full member of the UN.

As at press time, while the U.S. continues to actively seek support of some members of the Security Council, it is also making frantic efforts to stop the Abbas from going forward with the expected request to the Security Council tomorrow. UN diplomats  added that if that fails, the U.S. in order to hold down the use of its veto, may find a way to defer the Council from an immediate consideration of the request, unlike in the case of South Sudan, which was speedily considered and granted speedily.

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[color=#990000][/color]IF NA GEJ MAMA BORN AM, MAKE HIM SUPPORT ISRAEL AND US. WYH THE LOBBY BY OBAMA. AM PATIENTLY WAITING FOR THE OUTCOME.

He might be a bit of both. I think he will remain neutral though.

my thought too