When Buhari assumed Africa’s leadership at UN

WHEN President Muhammdu Buhari ended his statement to the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), there were loads of back slapping and high fives among the Nigerian delegation to the New York annual event. They had convinced themselves that the president had pulled off a superlative show despite initial doubts about his health and ability to withstand the rigours of the high wire extravaganza. Beyond the content of his address, the rendition was good, executed in a calm, strong and assured voice with appropriate inflections.

There is nothing extraordinary about that. But considering his fragile state of health over the last few months, the delegation had every reason to gloat because Buhari had put his naysayers to shame. More poignant though was their perception that the president went beyond his immediate brief as the Nigerian leader to assume the role of the president of Africa and demanding the UN’s attention for nagging world problems for which he received accolades from many quarters while on the flip side, some knocks from people who thought that he ignored burning issues in his own country to interlope in others’ affairs.

Buhari’s flagship message to the UN was a unique demand for the august body to send a delegation to the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, to pressure him to end the nuclear crisis which seems to have become the greatest threat to mankind. There is nothing on record to suggest the such idea has been broached before as the rhetoric between President Donald Trump of the United States and the North Korean leader is relentlessly dragging the world to a nuclear precipice.

The Nigerian leader wanted diplomatic efforts to be brought to bear on Kim Jong-un who has recently increased the pace of his country’s nuclear weapons development in defiance of all entreaties to halt the programme. Buhari’s initiative is therefore with a view to ensuring a peaceful resolution of the crisis and averting the looming catastrophe.
His words: “The most pressing threat to international peace and security today is the accelerated nuclear weapons development programme by North Korea. Since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, we have never come so close to the threat of nuclear war as we have now. All necessary pressure and diplomatic efforts must be brought to bear on North Korea to accept peaceful resolution of the crisis. As Hiroshima and Nagasaki painfully remind us, if we fail, the catastrophic and devastating human loss and environmental degradation cannot be imagined.

“Nigeria proposes a strong UN delegation to urgently engage the North Korean Leader. The delegation, led by the Security Council, should include members from all the regions. The crisis in the Korean peninsula underscores the urgency for all member states, guided by the spirit of enthroning a safer and more peaceful world, to ratify without delay the Treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons, which will be open for signature here tomorrow.”

The president also drew the world body’s attention to the suffering of the Muslim minorities, the Rohingyas in Myanmar, accusing the government of that country of carrying out ethnic cleansing against them.
Speaking about new conflicts and the need for the world body not to lose sight of old ones including the Palestinian question, the president regretted the humanitarian situation in Myanmar which he said was reminiscent of the situation in 1995 Bosnia and 1994 Rwanda. According to him, “Additionally, we are now confronted by the desperate human rights and humanitarian situations in Yemen and most tragically in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The Myanmar crisis is very reminiscent of what happened in Bosnia in 1995 and in Rwanda in 1994. The international community cannot remain silent and not condemn the horrendous suffering caused by what, from all indications is a state-backed programme of brutal depopulation of the Rohingya inhabited areas in Myanmar on the bases of ethnicity and religion.

“We fully endorse the call by the Secretary-General on the Government of Myanmar to order a halt to the ongoing ethnic cleansing and ensure the safe return of the displaced Rohingya to their homes in safety and dignity. In all these crises, the primary victims are the people, the most vulnerable being women and children. That is why the theme of this session: Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet” is most apposite. While the international community grapples to resolve these conflicts, we must be mindful and focus on the widening inequalities within societies, and the gap between the rich and the poor nations. These inequalities and gaps are part of the underlining root causes of competition for resources, frustration and anger leading to spiraling instability.”

Buhari reiterated his faith in democracy, recalling ECOWAS’ effort in upholding the principles in The Gambia and Cote D’Ivoire. Asking for the cooperative efforts to be sustained, Buhari opined that the world body must collectively devise strategies and mobilize the required responses to stop fleeing ISIS fighters from mutating and infiltrating into the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, where there are insufficient resources and response capacity is weak.

He opined that this would require strong UN cooperation with regional organizations, such as the African Union, in conflict prevention and management. He said the UN should continue to take primary leadership of the maintenance of international peace and security by providing, in a predictable and sustainable manner, adequate funding and other enablers to regional initiatives and peacekeeping operations authorized by the Security Council.

Buhari noted the exemplary show of solidarity of the international community in coming together to assist the countries and communities in the Sahel and the Lake Chad regions to contain the threats posed by Al Qaeda and Boko Haram and as well reiterated his call for the cooperation of world leaders to facilitate the recovery of stolen assets. He pointed out that even though efforts were being put in through the strengthening of state institutions, accountability and combating corruption, the international community’s cooperation was needed to make it succeed.
While noting that through individual national efforts, state institutions were being strengthened to promote accountability, and to combat corruption and asset recovery, he added: “These can only be achieved through the international community cooperating and providing critical assistance and material support. We shall also cooperate in addressing the growing transnational crimes such as forced labour, modern day slavery, human trafficking and cybercrime.

In the president’s delegation were Governors Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara); Deputy Governor Kaduna, Bala Bantex; Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Education, Defence, Solid Minerals, Interior, Geoffrey Onyeama, Adamu Adamu, Mansur Dan Ali, Kayode Fayemi and Abdulrahman Danbazau respectively, as well as Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibril; National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno and Special Adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina. Also present was the Senior Special Assistant to the president on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri among others.

Governor Akeredolu thought President Buhari’s outing at the UN was worth commendable as he dismissed criticism against Buhari for his apparent silence on the crisis arising from the agitation by the banned Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) even while highlighting problems in other far away countries. Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune, he argued that the president did not want to escalate the crisis to the level of the world body.

Before leaving New York for London last Thursday, Buhari had a few meetings including a lunch meeting with Trump along with other selected African leaders, bilateral on various areas of cooperation with King of Jordan, Abdullah II; President of Ghana, Kuffour Addo and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. He also witnessed Nigeria’s signing of a nuclear treaty. Adesina, who also concurred that Buhari’s appearance in New York was “worth the while and immensely beneficial to Nigeria,” cited Jordan’s donation under generous terms of 200 armoured vehicles to Nigeria’s efforts against terrorism, a gesture Buhari himself had said “reflects true concern for Nigeria’s security situation and genuine goodwill towards a friendly nation.”