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August 29, 2025 by Our Reporter
- By Olabode Lucas
Nobel prizes awarded annually are without doubt the most prestigious prizes in the world, and they are named after Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), a chemist, engineer and inventor. Nobel invented ballistics, and amassed a great fortune from almost 355 inventions. In his last will when he died, he specified that his fortune, which was estimated then at around $166 million, be used to create a series of prizes for those who “confer the greatest benefit to humankind.” Originally, the prizes were awarded in five fields, Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. The sixth prize in the field of Economics was added in 1968. The prizes in the fields were awarded in 1901 to mark the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
Every year, the attention of the whole world is focused on who would be the recipients of these prestigious prizes, especially the recipients of the Nobel Peace prize, the award of which every year usually generates controversy. Africans have featured prominently in the award of the Nobel Peace prize unlike in the other fields. Notable Africans who had got Nobel Peace Prize included Albert Luthuli of South Africa (1960), Anwar Sadat of Egypt (1978), Desmond Tutu of South Africa (1984), Nelson Mandela of South Africa (1993), De Klerk of South Africa (1993) and Kofi Annan of Ghana (2001). Our own Professor Wole Soyinka is the first African to get the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, and at present two other Africans have got the literature prize.
President Donald Trump of the USA in his characteristic ebullient way has now raised the stake for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize award and he is presently leaving no stone unturned to be the recipient of this year’s award. In his quest for this award, he wants to follow the footsteps of previous presidents of the USA like Theodore Roosevelt (1906), Woodrow Wilson (1915), Jimmy Carter (2002) and Barack Obama (2009) who had won the prize. Donald Trump has contacted some pliable world leaders to nominate him and some of these leaders include presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Pakistan and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan before he died. Trump’s action in this respect is certainly against the guidelines for the award which forbid lobbying for the award. Donald Trump based his claim for the award of the Nobel Peace Prize on his so-called successes in brokering peace in the wars, between Israel and Iran, Pakistan and India, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, Thailand and Cambodia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ethiopia and Egypt, and Serbia and Kosovo.
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An assessment of Trump’s claim to be a worthy peace maker in the wars mentioned above, would show that his claim is hollow and overblown just to satisfy his ego. It baffles any rational imagination, how Donald Trump could claim to be a peacemaker in the recent 12-day war between Israel and Iran, when it was Trump who joined Israel to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, and gave Israel intelligence support. In addition, most of the arms used by Israel in the conflict were supplied by the USA. Trump only called for a ceasefire after Israel under his friend, Benjamin Netanyahu had thoroughly humiliated Iran in the conflict. HIs claim on the Rwanda and Democratic Republic Congo conflict is hollow as the M23 rebels supported by Rwanda are still wreaking havoc in Eastern Congo. Trump’s interest in this area is not about peace but for the opportunity to exploit the rare minerals of Democratic Republic of Congo. Opinion is still divided on his role in the recent conflict between India and Pakistan, following the terrorist attack in the India controlled Kashmir in May 2025. While Pakistan eulogised Trump as the peacemaker in the conflict, and nominated him for Nobel Peace Prize probably at the behest of Trump, India has denied that the USA under Trump had any role to play in the ceasefire. In the Azerbaijan, Armenia conflict, Trump’s intervention has not affected the deplorable situation of the ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno Karabakh controlled by Azerbaijan, despite the orchestrated peace meeting presided over by Trump in the White House. In Southeast Asia, Trump got his way in the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand by threatening the two countries with higher trade tariffs if they did not sign a ceasefire agreement. Trump no doubt threatened the countries so that he could bolster his claim as a peace maker in the world. Finally, the conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia, which did not degenerate to war, was settled by the African Union not through Trump’s intervention. It is clear from the above analysis that the interventions of Trump in the above enumerated conflicts, were done solely not for altruistic reasons, but for his ego so that he would get the coveted Nobel Peace Prize.
Donald Trump’s latest efforts to bring peace in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia have floundered, thus putting another dent on his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Before he got to power, he boasted that he would end the conflict within 24 hours of becoming the president. To many people, this is the longest 24 hours in the history of mankind. Since becoming the president, Trump’s interventions in the conflict have been inconsistent and all his actions point to subtle support for Russia, which fair minded people around the world consider as the aggressor. Trump is not on the same page with European leaders like Emmanuel Macron of France, Keir Stammer of UK, Giorgia Meloni of Italy and Friedrich Merz of Germany in this conflict between Russia and Ukraine. If not because of these European leaders, Trump could have put Ukraine and its leader, Volodymyr Zelensky under the bus. His recent meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, in which he was thoroughly outmanoeuvred by Vladimir Putin, has now emboldened Putin to intensify drone attacks on Ukraine. There is a stalemate in this conflict now and the prospect of peace is bleak. A man like Trump who kowtows with an aggressor like Vladimir is certainly not a man of peace.
The domestic policies initiated by Trump during his first coming as the President of the USA and now have polarized the people in the USA and without doubt, Donald Trump has become the most divisive president in the history of that country. Under Trump, immigrants are harassed and traumatized, student visas are withdrawn, and Trump is at loggerhead with renowned universities in the USA. Welfare and other safety nets are removed for the poor while rich people are pampered with low taxes. In addition, aid and humanitarian support in education and health given in the past by the USA to poor countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America have been drastically cut down or cancelled under Trump, while he imposed stiff trade tariffs on goods coming from other countries to the USA. Since charity begins at home, Trump’s divisive and draconian domestic policies in the USA certainly disqualify him from being considered for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Based on rational considerations of both the domestic and international policies of President Trump, especially his relentless support of Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in his genocidal war in Gaza, Donald Trump, is not a good and proper candidate for the award of the most coveted Nobel Peace Prize. He has certainly turned the world upside down since he appeared on the world stage. Trump is gradually turning to Hitler of our time who covets other people’s territories in Canada and Greenland.
•Professor Lucas writes from Old Bodija Ibadan.
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