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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFT Q&A

UNITED NATIONS GATE, January 9 – When is a person related by marriage not a relative? The question has arisen in Nigeria, where Muhammadu Buhari has appointed his relative Amina Zakari to the "Independent" National Electoral Commission (INEC). The People's Democratic Party (PDP) said in a statement: "for us to have a peaceful election, Mrs Amina Zakari should not be seen anywhere near any of the 2019 election processes, not to talk of being involved in the collation of presidential results." Buhari spokesman Garba Shehu  insisted Buhari is related to her by marriage only. And that's OK? Inner City Press, roughed up and banned from even entering the UN for 185 days and counting by the UN of SG Antonio Guterres and DSG Amina J. Mohammed, asks whether their rep to West Africa and Nigeria Chambas will address or cover up the issue. He's more likely to play up this one: on January 9, "the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Edward Kallon, expressed grave concern following an upsurge in violence in the country’s north-east that has caused tens of thousands of innocent civilians to flee their homes.     Clashes on 26 December 2018 between Nigerian government forces and non-state armed groups in Baga town, on the shores of Lake Chad about 200 kilometers north of state capital Maiduguri, triggered the massive displacement, with most women, men and children converging on already congested camps or sites for internally displaced people in Maiduguri or Monguno town. A subsequent attempted attack on Monguno on 28 December 2018 has exacerbated the situation, generating further displacement amid the uncertainty caused by the clashes.     “The impact of the recent fighting on innocent civilians is devastating and has created a humanitarian tragedy,” said Mr. Kallon, after a visit to Monguno and to Teachers Village camp for internally displaced people in Maiduguri." When the Nigerian military tried to defend its killing of civilians near Abuja, some critics blamed it on Washington. Interesting. But what about the United Nations' Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed, who has said that Buhari is "my President," and who signed thousands of back-dated certificates for rosewood illegally exported to China from Nigeria and Cameroon? Inner City Press asked about her signatures and got roughed up and banned from the UN; its written questions about Amina Mohammed and Nigeria are not answered by Guterres' spokesmen Stephane Dujarric and Farhan Haq despite the false promises of Guterres' Global Censor Alison Smale to David Kaye, who never followed up. Today's UN system is more and more corrupt. Hours after UNICEF was suspended frmo working in north-east Nigeria, accused by spying by the Buhari government of which UN Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed was a part, as fast-signing Environment Minister, until belatedly assuming her post in New York, it has been reinstated. The Nigerian military said UNICEF staff “train and deploy spies who support the insurgents and their sympathizers”. It said UNICEF’s operations were being suspended in the northeast until further notice. Now after what it calls extensive deliberations, the ban has been lifted. Until this year, UNICEF has seemed one of the relatively better parts of the UN system - but now they too are censors, like Amina J. Mohammed (whose December 14 schedule, once again, says "all appointments are internal." If she couldn't even handle this....). It's not worth asking the UN a written question - they haven't answered a single one of Inner City Press' more than 20 questions this week, despite USG Alison Smale's promise to UNSR David Kaye. Guterres corrupts everything. The UN has banned Inner City Press from entering its campus since July 5, claiming that its Lieutenant Ronald Dobbins targeted ouster of Inner City Press from a speech by Secretary General Antonio Guterres on June 22 then from a meeting about his budget on July 3 were "altercations." On August 17, with no due process and no accountability, Guterres' Global Censor Alison Smale issued a ruling without once hearing from Inner City Press, making the ban permanent. Now this ban has been extended  beyond the UN Secretariat to the other side of First Avenue, the once crown jewel of the UN system now corrupted to (as in CAR and Myanmar), UNICEF, the "children's agency." Inner City Press has responded to an UNICEF invitation to an event for a book by Kul Gautam on September 5. On Friday August 31 past 6 pm UNICEF's Michelle Siegel wrote, "bring your UN media accreditation for security clearance. If you are not a currently accredited UN journalist you will not be admitted to the event." Wonder(ed) why. Now it emerges that Kul Gautam earlier on August 31 met with Guterres (who dominated the photo promoting the book) - and then Inner City Press was disinvited. On September 5 Inner City Press went to check out, then stake out, the event, which is its right. A slew of people with no UN ID at all went in. After a time, not Guterres but his chief of staff Maria Luiza Viotti and her chief of staff Mr. Eihab Omaish, previously Jordan's Deputy PR, arrived. Inner City Press informed them, politely, that it had been banned from this UN book event. They did not react at all. This is what Guterres is doing to the UN, including its badges that Guterres through Smale can revoke the moment you ask him about cash, Cameroon or corruption. Now UNICEF of Henriette Fore and Queen Rania and David Beckham have joined Guterres' censorship, hamhandedly. (We'll assume Fore checked this with the Queen, and Bend it Like Beckham, and the one and only  Kul Chandra Gautam, author of “Global Citizen from Gulmi"). Guterres and Amina J. Mohammed are killing the UN. We'll have more on this. 

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