FOR a country with a plethora  of socio-economic, political and religious ills, would it not have been expected that in the wake of the attempt by a Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to blow up an American jetliner, the government of the United States of America would come hard on Nigeria and Nigerians.  That said, it does not in any way vitiate the reality that innocent Nigerians would bear the brunt of this listing which places Nigeria as a country of interest in the war on terror.

Before Mutallab struck, America was bound to strike at some point.
The cumulus of anxiety and seeming instability in the polity occasioned by the absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua and made worse by a situation which places no one in charge can not be the single most considered factor which led the United States of America to list Nigeria among countries of interest in its war against terror.

Whereas Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up an American airliner on Christmas day, using PETN, that act is only the last in a long list of infractions which the Nigerian government had allowed to pass.

Sunday Vanguard spoke to some knowledgeable Nigerians, including a former Foreign Affairs Minister, a professor of international relations and a diplomat. The question posed to all of them was simple enough:  Does Nigeria deserve to be placed on that list? Their response was shocking in its unanimity.

From left; Imam Anwar al-Awlaki, radical Yemeni cleric who tutored Abdulmutallab, Umar Abdulmutallab, Obama

Sunday Vanguard was told that the signs were all there that the United States government was bound to hit Nigeria at some point because of alleged silence or inaction on situations that deserved decisive responses.

For instance, Sunday Vanguard was reminded of the incessant explosive statements made by some top Al Qaeda operatives in the past that Nigeria was a possible hunting ground but which did not elicit strong protestations from the Nigerian end.

Another issue which was said to have irritated the Americans but for which nothing was done is the issue of the multiple ethno-religious crises in Nigeria.

The former minister asked rhetorically:  “How many of the judicial panels that government set up did you hear anything about soon after they submited their reports; or how many people have been punished after the wanton waste of life?  These are the issues and these people are always watching us as we mess up.  To make matters worse, our government is even issuing an ultimatum.  We only succeeded in making a fool of ourselves by issuing that ultimatum.  Ultimatum to who?”

Sunday Vanguard was told that Nigeria had been on the radar of the United States of America for quite a while but that the Abdulmutallab episode only served to worsen the situation.

Sunday Vanguard  gathered that the American government “had been warning the Nigerian government to put its house in order lest something of this nature would happen; and it has now happened”.

How, after Farouk’s plot crashed,  violence with religious undertone broke out in Bauchi State, the same state where the Boko Haram sect almost sparked off its unrest of last year – the Boko Haram sect says it is against westernization and its education, the influence of which it considered inimical to Islam.  The movement was quashed, after many lives and properties had been lost.

Underwear bomber
Another example is the manner which Nigeria’s immediate past ambassador to the United States, General Oluwole Rotimi, was removed. This may not have bode well with the Americans.

His replacement,  Professor Tunde Adeniran, cleared by the Senate, was rejected following the alleged involvement of his son in rape in US city of Baltimore. His replacement, Professor Ade Adefuye, is yet to be screened by the Senate.

Therefore, at the time of Abdulmutallab arrest, there was no ambassador representing Nigeria in the US.

And then, that article posted on the web by Todd Moss, vice president and senior fellow at the Centre for Global Development in Washington and who had served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during the Bush administration “Where in the world is the Nigerian President?”

He wrote:  “Amid all the media frenzy around the Nigerian underwear bomber and how America should have stopped him before he tried to blow up a passenger plane on Christmas day a critical piece to the counter terrorism puzzle seems to have been missed: where in the world is the Nigerian President?  Normally, after such a horrific incident, President Obama would be on the phone with his counterpart discussing what went wrong and agreeing on ways to work better in the future to prevent such attacks.

But this couldn’t happen because Nigeria’s President left his country for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia on November 23 and hasn’t been seen or heard from since.”

Though his article elicited criticism in Nigeria, the former Foreign Affairs minister Sunday Vanguard spoke to insisted that what Nigeria should be doing is, for instance, find a lasting solution to the issue of the almajiris in the north or any part of the country. According to him, “the almajiri syndrome must be taken care of; get the kids off the street, educate them and even if it means mixing western education and Islamic education, just get the kids off the streets; put a time line to it and make it work.“Then, government should begin to hold each Emir responsible for peace in his domain Mosques and Islamic institutions should also be approved by the Emir-in-Council that way people would not just open camps.

When people compare Nigeria with Britain and use the example of Richard Reid, the Briton who attempted to smuggle explosives into a plane in 2001 using his shoes, people forget that Britain set in motion a lot of activities with a view to taming the monster.  Britain broke the Irish Republican Army, IRA.  The question is:  What has Nigeria done to demonstrate that we are serious?”

To buttress this point, he said Indonesia, with its Islamic fundamentalists, was not put on the watchlist.  Reason:  The country is known to have cracked down on hardliers, Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, immediately summoned the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Renee Sanders, to his office after the listing of Nigeria.

Whereas the US reserves the right to determine how it engages its security measures, the listing of Nigeria as a country of interest is not only unfair but would merely serve as a punishment to the people and not the government which continues to move from one shambolism to the other.

Obama goes tough, issues new directives
THE main points of the memo on    “corrective actions issued by   President Obama last Thursday are as follows:
State Department:
*Review rules for how visas are issued and withdrawn, taking into account concerns over terror threats.
Department of Homeland Security:
*Improve procedures and technology for screening passengers while respecting privacy rights.
*Bolster cooperation with other governments on airport security
Director of National Intelligence:
*Clarify the roles of different intelligence agencies in sifting through information on terrorist threats.
*Improve the use of technology for managing data and linking biographical details on suspects with other intelligence information.
CIA:
*Ensure intelligence reports are distributed quickly.
*Improve procedures for how lists of suspected terrorists are compiled, analyzed and acted on.
FBI:
*Review the data base and the visa status for suspected terrorists, starting with the “No Fly list” for airlines.
*Draw up recommendations on possible changes to how watchlists of suspected terrorists are prepared.
National Counter-Terrorism Center
*Ensure terrorism threats are tracked “exhaustively” and assigned priorities. Alert intelligence and law enforcement agencies for follow-up action.
*Create a team devoted to improving records on possible terrorists.
White House National Security Staff:
*Review the “systemic failures” in the run-up to the attempted attack on the Northwest airplane, preparing the way for policy changes and making clear the roles of various agencies.
*Review how different terrorist watchlists are drafted and whether computer technology needs to be improved or better linked together.

In bad company
Countries of interest:
Countries lumped with Nigeria on account of terrorism suspicion
Nigeria
Afghanistan
Algeria
Iraq
Pakistan
Yemen
Lebanon
Libya
Somalia
Saudi Arabia

State sponsors of terrorism
Cuba
Iran
Sudan
Syria

A relationship of two unequals

A few examples in the relationship which exists between Nigeria and US since 1999
*Certification of Nigeria as a drug transit,  leading to stoppage of direct flights between Nigeria and US
*The Financial Action Task Force also placed Nigeria on a list of countries with high risk of doing business as a result of the menace of Advance Fee Fraud
*Barrack Obama’s shunned Nigeria in his first visit to Africa as President; he then talked down on the country in a speech in  Ghana
*The Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Nigeria and she also talked down on the leadership
*US make a cynical offer of military assistance to Nigeria to police the Gulf of Benin
*Two former US Ambassadors to Nigeria, Walter Carrington and Princeton Lyman, said Nigeria is losing relevance to the US.
*President Umaru Yar’Adua visited George Bush’s White House  and said it was a momentous event.
*US observer team led by Madeline Albright insisted that Obasanjo must admit that the 2007 elections were fraught with irregularities

*US lists Nigeria among 10 nations of interest in war against terror

Indicted!
THE Six Count Charge against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
*Attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction
*Attempted murder within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States
*Willful attempt to destroy and wreck an aircraft within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States
*Willfully placing a destructive device in, upon and in proximity to an aircraft within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, which was likely to endanger the safety of such aircraft
*Possession of a firearm/destructive in furtherance of a crime of violence
*Possession of a firearm/destructive in furtherance of a crime of violence