Ambassador Sulaiman Dahiru is a retired diplomat who served Nigeria in many capacities, including being the Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Consul General in Karachi, Pakistan, and the Ambassador to the Republic of Sudan. He speaks on the significance of Nigeria's election into the United Nations Security Council.
.
How do you react to Nigeria's election into non-permanent membership of the U.N Security Council?
.
It is true that Nigeria was recently elected by the U.N General Assembly to be a member of the U.N Security Council on a two-year rotational non- permanent membership. Nigeria scored 186 votes from the 193 voting members of the General Assembly. This is certainly an overwhelming victory for Nigeria in spite of the futile attempt by the Gambia and Senegal to go against the endorsement of Nigeria by ECOWAS and the African Union (AU).
.
The implication of the futile attempt by these two countries to challenge Nigeria is that even in our sub- regional organisation Nigeria cannot be sure of getting support of members. To me, this is plain mischievous and embarrassing. Yet, Nigeria bears the brunt of maintaining the ECOWAS secretariat in Abuja and also was to all flash points to settle any problem at great cost-financially, materially.
.
However, I am inclined to look at the issue of Nigeria's membership of the U.N Security Council from two angles. First, that Nigeria got elected is an eloquent testimony of the capacity of Nigerian diplomats who mounted a relentless campaign to get the support of the rest of the world. This supports my long-held view that professional job should be left to the professionals. Second, that the Gambia and Senegal fruitlessly tried to challenge Nigeria's endorsement goes to show that Nigeria is no longer the undisputed leader which it used to be.