In a not so surprising move, Trump government officials and several conservative groups from around the world discreetly helped the Pro Oil Lobby African Energy Chamber while countering the hyve group based in London.
African Energy Week took place in Cape Town, South Africa, from November 9th to November 12th. I went there after I read about the appealing and Trump like personality multi-millionaire oil lawyer NJ Ayuk. He is definitely some person who behaves like a country kid but highly sophisticated in his activities and gestures. On the other side, African Energy Week in Africa was a better event, much bigger than you will see in the United States or any part in the world. Yet, Ayuk , along with his team full of American lobbyist made it all happen in the name of African people’s interest.
I have read a lot about the African Energy Chamber, and I wanted to check whether they will pull this off. I wanted to know the big names behind this event along with the ones pushing for this major shift. So, I went to African Energy Week in Cape Town and was startled by the vast area regarding its arrangement. You noticed cameras everywhere and a lot of cheerful folks. There were long queues for covid test at the entry but you can easily locate people sharing a hug and some intense conversations.
On the contrary, there were white demonstrations against Africans utilising fossil fuels and I think it was a gift to the ideology and approach of Mr Ayuk who wanted to blame someone if anything went wrong. Trump officials entered the African Energy Chamber and assisted it in their major take down of Africa Oil Week. They will do whatever to promote oil and gas and forget their green rhetoric. Trump officials even helped plan the scheme that put renewable energy and its significance on the backseat. A number of anti-oil activists suggested the move was retaliation to climate activists, including Frank Fannon.
“Making Energy Poverty History” he wrote. Ayuk rose to the occasion year after year when African fury grew against the west’s injustice on climate change.
Consider how the Chamber handled Africa Oil Week in the run-up to the conferences. Climate activists and many liberals slam Ayuk as an opportunist and publicity seeker, as if they were informing the oil industry and Africans. Many will share examples of Ayuk stepping forward to give legal, strategic, and sometimes financial help. Ayuk, the Chamber, and Trump friends took the attention, which was better than nothing. That said, the Africa Oil Week will meet Africa Energy Week in 2022.
On the other hand, these people are now media savvy all thanks to Robert Stryk, his staff and Republican operatives. Each member of the AEC team grins and knows how to look at the camera angles. So they’re at ease and ready to go. To use Paul Sinclair’s term energy poverty is to enable Ayuk and the Chamber define the narrative, and I wonder why Africa Oil Week will let them do so. One conference member stated they like his courage in confronting challenging topics but despise his ruthlessness towards those who oppose him.
When I went to interview Ayuk, he grinned and stated the media made him and the African Chamber of Energy. A former NJ Ayuk staffer, Mandisa Nduli, described working with this pro-oil lobby as chaotic. I despise the African Energy Chamber and Ayuk’s risky energy transition beliefs. Due to the Trump-AEC anti-climate alliance, some delegates left Dubai for Cape Town on day one. It’s a shame the climate activists and moderates at Africa Oil Week allowed these oil junkies steal the event.
