US has not made decision to sanction Nigeria yet, as UN resolution stops Trump over Israel
The United States has not made any decisions yet on whether to sanction Nigeria or not over its vote in support of the United Nations to reject the US’ recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, Trump was quoted by the UK’s The Guardian newspaper to have said.
According to the report, Trump said, “Let them (Nigeria and other countries benefitting from the US financial aids) vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care.
“But this isn’t like it used to be where they could vote against you (the US) and then you pay them hundreds of millions of dollars. We’re not going to be taken advantage of any longer.”
Nigeria and 127 other countries had voted to reject the US’ position on Jerusalem in spite of the fact that the country is one of the biggest recipients of aids from the US.
A print medium report has it that a US Department of State official, Julia Mason, when asked about whether the US would sanction Nigeria over its Jerusalem vote, said: “As President Trump said on December 20, it is a factor in the process of making our assistance decisions. The president’s foreign policy team has been empowered to explore various options going forward; however, no decisions have been made.
“The outcome was not unexpected. It is a non-binding resolution that does nothing to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or advance the cause of peace.”
Nikki Haley, who is the US Ambassador to the UN, had also said: “Unlike some UN member countries, the United States government is answerable to its people; as such, we have an obligation to acknowledge when our political and financial capital is being poorly spent.
“We have an obligation to demand more for our investment, and if our investment fails, we have an obligation to spend our resources in more productive ways. Those are the thoughts that come to mind when we consider the resolution before us today.”
It was gathered that Trump had warned ahead of the vote in the 193–nation Assembly that “we’re watching” and threatened reprisals against countries that back the measure.
