Terror Attack: Do Nigerians Deserve To Be Demonised?

By Paul Arhewe ,


The Christmas botched terror attack attempted by Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, is not only a condemnable act but one that requires the maximum punishment that goes with such act.
Howbeit, last week, the American State Department in its bid to stiffen security watch on likely terror attack chose to include Nigeria in a watch-list of countries of interest (countries that should be closely monitored to assuage surprise attacks), alongside with 13 other known terrorists-sponsoring countries.
The implication of this measure is that while other countries, especially in the western world would begin to exercise extra caution in dealing with Nigerians travelling to their countries, foreign investors would be dissuaded as they would not want their reputation smeared in indulging with a country under a terror watch-list.
While the actions of U.S. is widely criticised, in this part of the world, many are of the view that the bulk of blame should rest with American government for its intelligence’s failure to avert the failed attack by not acting promptly on the information provided by AdulMutallab’s father two months before the attempt on the U.S. aircraft. The American securities failed to act on the vital information that would have seen AdulMutallab been placed on a no-fly watch list. Though, President Barack Obama has claimed responsibility for this security lapses, this is not enough as cooperation is required from other countries, including Nigeria, in nipping in the bud any future development of terrorist act.
One is tempted to believe that the inclusion of Nigeria in terrorist watch list by U.S. is not based only on the isolated AbdulMutallab botched attack. As a measure to save face, the blames for the terror attack should definitely be shared with others.
In 2001, the convicted Briton shoe bomber, Richard Reid, used the same PETN chemical explosives in a failed attempt to blow up a transatlantic airline. America failed to tag UK a terrorist state and put the country in its watch-list of country of interest; but for a black African state, this tag is well suited. The listing of Nigeria is no doubt an overreaction from the American government, and a delisting would go a long way in averting a show of diplomatic quagmire.
There are glaring facts that the suspect in question was not influenced within the Nigerian borders, but recruited in London, and got the suicide bomber-instinct from his association with an al-Qaida branch in Yemen, which has taken responsibility. The suspect associated with a notorious radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki has been linked to other attacks, including that carried out by an American army Major Nidal Malik Hasan at the Fort Hood army base in Texas in November 2009.
If AbdulMutallab’s natural parents were in support of his move, they wouldn’t have proceeded to thwart it months before its execution. This is a pointer that Abdulmutallab’s sponsors, as clearly seen, are outside his native country, not within, and a case to show U.S. placement of Nigeria on a watch-list is not a deal fair.
The Yemen government is also trying to save its face from shame as a terrorists- breeding state by claiming the explosives AbdulMutallab used were not from their country but from Nigeria. AbdulMutallab that spent only 23 minutes in Nigeria before embarking on the suicide mission may not have gone to any market in Lagos to buy PETN explosives. The PETN chemical is the basic ingredient in detonating cords used for industrial explosions and can be collected by scraping the insides of the wire, said James Crippin, a Colorado explosives expert. Used in military devices and readily found in blasting caps, the chemical is stable and safe to handle but requires a primary explosive to detonate it. The question is how would the suspect, acting alone, get these explosives within 23 minutes he was in Nigerian soil? Suppose he got it from Nigeria, the fact still remains that those directing his moves were from Yemen. They would surely have arranged the substance for him. While, Nigerian government should not foreclose the premise that collaborator(s) may have aided the suspect within the country, instead of passing blame the Yemeni government should proceed with the ongoing onslaught against terrorists groups that are fortifying their base in this middle-east country.
Nigeria, no doubts has some past experiences of deadly religious uprisings, such as the 1980s Maitatsine sect attack, 2009 Boko Haram bedlam, and the recent Kala-kato crisis in Bauchi. These religious strives may have attracted the attention of America and prompted the decision to tag Nigeria a terrorist sponsoring state, especially when hundreds are killed on a flimsy and baseless religious protest. While it is expected that Nigerian government should address security lapses that give room for nursing internal religious sect, which preaches anti-America and anti-western civilisation, the American government, no doubt should have a definition for international terrorism, which should be different from religious rankling, which is present in every country, especially in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state as Nigeria. Nigerians are lovers of longevity. Every normal Nigerians, outside those whose mindsets have been polluted and whitewashed by influences outside the shores of the country like AbdulMutallab, would daily pray to outlive the years their great grandfathers lived; it is unimaginable seeing a normal Nigerian fronting to be a suicide bomber. No wonder Nigerians are tagged the happiest people, despite the numerous factors that should make them every second sad.
It is a welcome development for countries, not only U.S., to tighten their airport securities, with newly introduced security measures such as full-body scanning and explosive detection technology, the use of “Puffer” machines, a simple frisk or bomb-sniffing dogs all would likely detect the chemical explosive PETN, as experts disclosed. With this in place, there is the need for countries to cooperate in ensuring a safer world than the move by American government to blacklist Nigeria. While, AbdulMutallab should be made to pay for his sins, as the outcome of a U.S. federal grand jury has indicted him last week on six charges, including one that could put him away for life, a peace- loving country like Nigeria should not be witch-hunted; rather seeking her cooperation in the fight against terror would be to the advantage of humanity.