Nigeria in the eye of the storm

The new year began with a lots of hand wringing, soul searching and even outright anger in the African blogosphere over Umar Farouk Abdul-Mutallab’s Christmas day attempt to bomb a Delta/Northwest Airline over Detroit, and the subsequent inclusion of Nigeria on the US terrorist watch list along with 13 other countries.

Heal Nigeria takes a contrarian view to argue that Nigeria the US has legitimate reasons for placing Nigeria on the watch list:

'From the public perspective, it seems that 150 million people have now been ‘criminalised’ because of the nefarious act of a single individual. However, for anyone to think that US govt reaction was just because of Umar AbdulMutallab’s terrorist expedition smacks of naiveté.

'It is common knowledge that religious extremism has been on the sharp rise in Nigeria. We all know of the famous Boko Haram killings. Also, just two days after the US terrorist attempt, hundreds of lives were lost in Bauchi State to religious riots (Kalo Kato). The nation also witnessed incessant bombing of oil pipelines in the Niger Delta. The combination of religious extremism in the North and armed militancy in the Niger Delta underlines the failure of our national security…

'It is convenient for our leaders to say Umar’s action was an isolated case, and not representative of behaviour of 150 million Nigerians. But there is no doubt that the US govt will be deeply concerned about the failure of the Nigerian govt in dealing with the local religious extremism. Who knows if the Boko Harams are actually al-Qaeda sympathisers? Who knows if some of the extremist organisations in Nigeria are affiliated to the al-Qaeda or Hezebollah of this world? It’s been alleged that some of the Niger Delta” militants were trained in Libya (!).'

Politics Africa shares the view that religious extremism in Nigeria is at the root of the current crisis:

'Successive Nigerian governments have closed their eyes to radicalization and fundamentalism all over the country from both Christianity and Islam to the detriment of the nation.

'Perverse interpretations of these religions have seeped into the minds of our people and now we see the crystallized result in the form of Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab…

'It is time that our leaders pay attention to the radicalization of religion in all parts of our country and build an impenetrable wall wholly separating Church, Mosque, and State.

'It is high time we address the “money making organizations” in the South who rather than preach the true gospel, aid and abet corruption by receiving donations from openly corrupt public officials…

'When are we going to have brave Northern leaders who realize that “one nation bound in freedom” has no place for a separate Sharia Law especially since Chapter I, Part II, Section 10 of Nigeria’s constitution clearly prohibits the adoption of any religion as a state religion.

'How many innocent men, women and children must be killed before known extreme clerics are curtailed so as not to produce more Umar Abdul Mutallabs who shame Nigeria?'

In Notes from Atlanta Farooq A. Kperogi writes about the 'anxiety and unease that Nigerians in the diaspora now feel' after the failed bombing attempt:

'Now, because of the isolated, misguided action of one crazed, fanatical, spoiled brat who has spent more time outside Nigeria than he spent in it, all Nigerians are labeled potential terrorists - at least for now. So no longer will the perception of me as an “African” or “Nigerian” Muslim conjure notions of tolerant, non-violent Islam. In my own case, I share the same first name with the would-be terrorist. My luck can’t get any tougher than this.

'I started feeling the pangs of this ill-luck rather early. My American friend who invited me to his home for a Christmas dinner joked that I would now henceforth always have to introduce myself to Americans by saying, "I’m Farooq from Nigeria and I’m not a terrorist."

'But this isn’t even a joke any more. On December 27 a Nigerian passenger on a Delta/Northwest flight was harassed and detained at the Detroit Metro Airport because he allegedly spent too much time in the toilet and was therefore assumed to be brewing some terroristic machinations. The poor man was most probably even a Christian. But he nonetheless committed a new crime in America: flying while Nigerian… You know, stereotyping is a great timesaver; it enables lazy people to rush to quick judgment without the pesky encumbrance of nuance and factual information.'

Sarpong Obed argues that the Western media is using the failed bombing to tarnish Africa’s reputation:

'The Senior Editor of Veterans Today writes that Nigeria, Central Africa Republic and Ghana are rich grounds to plants the seeds of terrorism. How Gordon Duff came by this conclusion still amazes me still. Ghana is a fertile ground to grow terrorists? Domestically, security in Ghana is managed by the state. This has an added advantage unlike Mr. Duff's home country, the United States, where security is in the hands of private companies and that includes security at airports.

'What Mr. Duff should know is that the United States is also a potential hotbed for homegrown terrorism. Before Mr. Duff, and many other writers in the West like him, duff up Africa, they should peep in their own backyard. They should look at how they are empowering terrorists and potentials terrorists to find cause and motivation in their evil acts.

'Mark Doyle of the BBC while interviewing the Nigerian minister of information appeared to have hinted that Abdul Mutallab was not properly screened at the airport in Lagos…

'Indeed, reports are rife that Abdul Mutallab did not go through passport checks at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam and that he probably was assisted. No Western media is looking at this issue. After all, it is only in Africa that inefficiency and discrepancy is genetic. It cannot happen anywhere in Europe or America.'

Scribbles from the Den commemorates the Republic of Cameroon’s 50th independence anniversary by republishing a Time Magazine report from 1960 which captures the mood that prevailed when the country became independent on January 1, 1960:

'The first of Africa's six new nations to get its independence in 1960 celebrated its beginnings last week with half the country in a state of emergency.

'On the morning of the first day of independence, terrorists killed five people in the capital of Yaounde, and the foreign dignitaries who streamed in by air at Douala the day before could see the ruins of the control tower ransacked by another insurgent gang. In six months of struggle 22 whites have died—more than were killed in a similar period during the Mau Mau war in Kenya—and 500 or more Africans.

'Responsible for most of the slaughter are the exiled leaders of a dissident political party banned in 1955, who are working to undermine 35-year-old Premier Ahmadou Ahidjo's fledgling government. The party is led by Dr. Felix-Roland Moumie, who has been issuing Czech pistols to Bamileke tribesmen. Just back from Moscow, Moumie operates from his refuge in nearby really independent Guinea. His followers hide in the hills or attack from across the border in the neighboring British Cameroons.'

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Dibussi Tande, a writer and activist from Cameroon, produces the blog Scribbles from the Den.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.