Date Published: 01/12/10

AMERICA`S BLACKLISTING OF NIGERIA: THE NORTHERN ELITES ARE TO BE BLAMED, FOR THEIR ACQUIESCENCE TO RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE By Temple Chima Ubochi

Terrorism has become the systematic weapon of a war that knows no borders or seldom has a face. (Jacques Chirac)

A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all. (Tacitus)

Fighting terrorism is like being a goalkeeper. You can make a hundred brilliant saves but the only shot that people remember is the one that gets past you. (Paul Wilkinson)

Every leader, and every regime, and every movement, and every organization that steps across the line to terrorism must be banished from the discourse of civilized human life. (Alan Keyes)

Our enemies are fully aware that they can use oil as a weapon against America. And if we don't take this threat as seriously as the bombs they build or the guns they buy, we will be fighting the War on Terror with one hand tied behind our back. (Barack Obama)

The United States has just placed Nigeria as one of the countries under the watch list of terrorism. 

When things start happening, we might not know why. What we’re seeing now might have been destined. As this writer wrote in his penultimate article: 2010 is the year that will start the making or breaking of Nigeria. It’s now 40 years since the end of the civil war. It might as well be that providence has a hand in all of these. It’s God that stopped Mutallab’s “deadly cargo” from going off. Nothing stopped the would-be-bomber from detonating his cargo in the toilet, away from the purview of the other passengers, afterall; he spent about 20 minutes in that toilet fixing the bomb. But as God would have it, Mutallab decided to come out in the open (in the plane) to detonate the bomb. God might have saved the lives of the whole passengers for a purpose, may be, to stop the insanity going on in Nigeria.

God does His wonders in mysterious ways and they use to surpass human understanding. A thousand years in the sight of God is like an evening gone. We might not comprehend everything here.

Whenever we failed to do what we’re supposed to do, that’s what we get; Whenever we stayed aloof to other people’s plight because it did not directly affect us, one way or the other, sooner or later, we would feel the heat somehow. Since we have failed to do our homework, the Americans have decided to do it for us and that’s alright. Do we see the reason why we should always condemn evil whenever/wherever it’s being perpetrated, no matter whose was involved and whose ox was gored? My people say “when people see a fowl scattering rubbish with its legs, all should join hands in pursuing it away, because, nobody knows who would eat those legs tomorrow”. And that “somebody should not throw a stone into the crowded market place, because it might hit the head of his/her (the thrower) relative”.

Nigerians need to put their thinking cap every time, let’s stop being myopic in reading meanings into the happenings around us. We should be better than this. For discerning minds, it’s not hard to understand almost everything which influenced the American government’s decision to list Nigeria as terrorists’ sanctuary.

Now, the Nigerian elites are “blubbering” because of the American decision, but, when things were getting out of hand in Nigeria, did any of them genuinely condemned those despicable incidents? Some of the Moslems in the north have been killing and maiming the southerners and Christians, churches have been burnt, heads of Christians beheaded, properties destroyed and lives ruined. How many northerners or Moslems genuinely condemned the beheadings? How many Moslems, even those who claimed to be moderates, are genuinely against Sharia law introduced in some northern states? Didn’t our president as a governor, introduced Sharia law in his state and even approved the stoning of a woman for having a child out of wedlock, until international condemnations stopped the commencement of the stoning?

 How many northerners or other Nigerians, except the victims, genuinely condemned the Igbo genocide, pogroms, marginalisation etc? How many Nigerians spoke against Maitatsine, Boko Haram, Zaki-Zaki, religious riots of Jos, Maiduguri, Bauchi, Kano and other northern towns, which left in their trails wanton destruction of lives and properties? Has anybody been punished for the murdering, beheading of southerners, especially, Ndiigbo in the north? Who genuinely spoke against the jubilation in the north during the September 11 bombing in America? Did anybody lost his/her sleep when some northerners were selling bin Laden T-Shirts after the 9/11 bombing? Who has genuinely spoken against the burning of American flag and the shouting of “Death to Americans,” which are constant occurrence in the north? How many northerners genuinely rose against the death and destruction unleashed on innocent southerners and Christians because of the Danish carton and the hosting of beauty pageant in Nigeria? Nobody! When the northerners beheaded some Ndiigbo in the north, cut open the stomach of pregnant Igbo women and removed the foetuses inside, before killing the mothers and destroying the foetuses, how many northerners genuinely condemned all these? Nobody! When Gideon Akaluka was killed and his head flown like a kite, who in the north talked? Nobody! When some Moslems in the north named their sons “bin laden”, who raised eyebrows in the north? Nobody!

This writer emphasises “genuinely” here, because, some northern elites might have, at one time or the other, given fake condemnations to these atrocities perpetrated against the Christians and southerners, but, covertly, they went back and patted the perpetrators on the back, thereby encouraging them to commit more of the atrocities in the future, as they (the atrocities) serve the northern elites’ interests. Is anybody in jail for anti-Christian rants?

United States government, unlike that in Nigeria, keeps records; it has been taking notice of all the religious strife, acrimony and riots going on in Nigeria and the destruction of lives and properties they leave in their trails, so this decision to list Nigeria as a terrorists’ haven, was influenced by many factors, not only the botched bombing attempt by Farouk Abdulmutallab. Such decision should not be viewed in isolation; we should not be surprised that the arrested botched bomber (Farouk Abdulmutallab) must have made useful statements to the American authorities and has been helping them in their investigations. What he might have told the Americans so far, must have also helped in influencing the decision to list Nigeria as a terrorists’ enclave. Let’s not forget that the bomber-boy is a “vexed-child”, although born with silver spoon, he has been rebellious and would “spill the bean” to the American authorities. He have seen and heard everything going on in the northern section of Nigeria and the American intelligence would break him easily in order to extract all he knows. We learnt that he’s talking a lot in jail. Also let’s not forget that the CIA and other American intelligence agencies swooped down on the northern section of Nigeria hours after the botched terrorist attempt and the facts and evidence they must have collected so far, must have helped in informing this decision to put Nigeria in the terrorism watch list. We know that the intelligence personnel, by their training, dig out information and evidence untrained eyes cannot reach.

 It’s interesting to note how “goats would be threatening a lion with fire and brimstone from a mile”. Those Nigerians, whether officials or individuals, threatening to bring down America, if it fails to rescind its decision and delist Nigeria, are clowns, they’re the greatest jokers ever. Let it be clear to everybody that no amount of tears, threats or barking would make America change its mind on this; the policy is here to stay, so the earlier we start making up our minds to live with it, start having clean underwears and staying out of implicating actions every time we’re travelling to America, the better for us.

The Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili, in condemning the decision of the United States (US) to put Nigeria on its terror list said “It is unfair to include Nigeria on the US list for tighter screening, because Nigerians do not have terrorist tendency.” Did anybody hear this woman well? Where has she been all the while, when the Moslems were killing the southerners and Christians in the northern part of Nigeria? What a hypocrisy?

The foreign affairs minister, Ojo Maduekwe, summoned the US envoy, the national assembly issued a seven-day ultimatum (to rescind the decision) or diplomatic row will ensue, Aondoakaa attacked the decision. All of them gave one reason or the other why the United States should remove Nigeria from the watch list. Some are calling for the severing of relations with the United States. Does United States cares, who would be the losers here? United States has no need for Nigeria, but, Nigeria needs the United States unless Nigeria wants to recall more than a million of its citizens living in the States. For those who do not know, our weakening diplomatic ties with the United States may have largely contributed to the blacklisting of the country.

Even Gowon said that the decision was not acceptable and he called on America to reverse its decision and tender an unreserved apology to Nigeria. But the “goner” also contradicted himself immediately when he asked all Nigerians to remain prayerful for the progress and development of the country, stressing that the country needs prayer more than before now. He should have known that the reason why Nigeria needs prayer more than ever, was also the reason why it’s terrorists’ haven and why it’s one of the terrorist-breeding nations of the world.

All the points or reasons given why Nigeria should not be in the list and the empty threats made, all veered off the targeted intention (rescinding of the decision), they didn’t just hit home.

As this writer was about posting this article for publication, news came that the Federal Government was no longer pursuing its ultimatum against the United States of America over the inclusion of Nigeria on the terror list, saying it had opted for “friendly resolution.” The Nigerian politicians are bunch of morons. Who do they think they’re? This writer thinks they’re living in a dreamland, forgetting that they’re only “somebody” only in Nigeria, but “nonentities” everywhere else. Why didn’t they dwell on threatening America, why are they swallowing their spits now?

This writer noticed one interesting scenario here. Those at the forefront of condemning the United States for the decision to put Nigeria in the terror watch list are mostly Ndiigbo. Ayogu Eze, Akunyili and Maduekwe had been the most vocal in their condemnation of the decision, afterall; they’re not the only ones in the government. The irony is that these people are of Igbo extraction, the ethnic group that has been bearing most of the brunt of ethnic strife and destruction the Moslems of northern Nigeria have been unleashing every now and then in the country. Ndiigbo have lost lives and properties, to internal religious terrorism, more than the other ethnic/tribal groups all combined, and still, their own people (Igbos), are the ones ferociously defending Nigeria as a land that knows no religious animosity. Though, these people work for the government and had to say something, but, they should have been more discreet about it, because, in the long run, this American decision might put paid to the incessant killings of southerners and Christians in the north. It was the president who‘s supposed to issue the government position here, but, he’s nowhere to be found. Instead, the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy has pushed out these prodigal Igbos to go defend Nigeria for them; tomorrow, they (the northern oligarchy) will unleash their people on Ndiigbo again in the name of religious riots, which only serve their (northern elites’) purposes.

This writer as well as Ayogu Eze, Akunyili, Maduekwe and others know too well that the Americans are right in all they’re saying, so why the deceit in defending a nation that’s not there in the first place? What’s a nation about Nigeria? If Nigeria is a nation, we should have been following the progress or otherwise of Yar’Adua’s medical treatment abroad; if Nigeria is a nation, Goodluck Jonathan should have been the acting president by now (in the absence of Yar’Adua); if Nigeria is a nation, people such as the father of the would-be bomber, Pa Mutallab, wouldn’t have amass such a wealth through stealing of our commonwealth, which he used in sending his lost son to elite schools like university college London with a 4 million pounds house to live in, and now be able to hire and send a lawyer, Mrs. Uwais (the wife of the former justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Uwais), to represent the family at the trial of the son, Farouk Mutallab, the would-be bomber in Detroit, USA, despite the fact that United States government has provided the accused with defense lawyers; if Nigeria is a nation, Maitatsine, Boko Haram,  Danish carton riot, hosting of beauty pageant riot,  Israeli/Palestine conflicts riots and all the religious riots would not have happened and should not have led to the destruction of lives and properties we all witnessed in Nigeria. It’s shameful that some of the Igbo elites are always doing the northern oligarchy’s dirty jobs for them, but, when it comes to reaping the rewards of Nigeria, they, the northern oligarchy, covets everything alone. Is that not modern day slavery?

Ndiigbo should now see why they cannot depend on their leaders, who’re sell-outs, for their political emancipation in the enclave called Nigeria; they need new crop of leaders, they should find the way to liberate themselves politically, because those calling themselves Igbo leaders are satisfied with the crumbs falling from their masters` (Hausa/Fulani) table and would give no damn about the other Igbos.

United States officials have ruled out reversing the action and dared Nigeria to show evidence of a comprehensive plan to fight terror groups. According to them, intelligence had concluded that terror groups are likely to use Nigeria as a base for further attacks. They added that for years, the C.I.A has documented evidence of Al-Qaida attempting to recruit and gain foothold in Nigeria, and Nigeria’s security agencies did nothing to confront the threat. They also made it clear that they’re not prepared to risk American lives just to satisfy Nigerian officials. For them, rather than threatening the United States, Nigerian officials know what to do to get the country off the watch list. That they (Nigeria officials) should show concrete evidence that the country is serious about fighting terror. Such as improving security and intelligence gathering against not just terror groups, but also extremists and fundamentalists, especially in the northern part of the country and the  closure of Islamic schools that teach and influence youths into religious extremism.

Ambassador Princeton Lyman (A former US Ambassador to Nigeria) said:

“I have a feeling that we both Nigerians and Americans may be doing Nigeria and Nigerians no favour by stressing Nigeria's strategic importance.

I know all the arguments: It is a major oil-producer, it is the most populous country in Africa, it has made major contributions to Africa in peace-keeping, and, of course, negatively if Nigeria were to fall apart, the ripple effects would be tremendous, etc. But, I wonder if all this emphasis on Nigeria's importance creates a tendency to inflate Nigeria's opinion of its own invulnerability.

And oil. Yes, Nigeria is a major oil producer, but Brazil is now launching a 10-year programme that is going to make it one of the major oil producers in the world.

And every other country in Africa is now beginning to produce oil.
And Angola is rivalling Nigeria in oil production, and the United States has just discovered a huge gas reserve which is going to replace some of our dependence on imported energy.

So if you look ahead ten years, is Nigeria really going to be that relevant as a major oil producer, or just another of the many oil producers while the world moves on to alternative sources of energy and other sources of supply?

The point is that Nigeria can become much less relevant to the United States. We have already seen evidence of it when President Obama went to Ghana and not to Nigeria. He was sending a message that Ghana symbolised more of the significant trends, issues and importance that one wants to put on Africa than Nigeria.

So the handwriting may already be on the wall, and that is a sad commentary.
What it means is that Nigeria's most important strategic importance in the end could be that it has failed.

That is a sad, sad conclusion. It does not have to happen, but I think that we ought to stop talking about what a great country it is, and how terribly important it is to us and talk about what it would take for Nigeria to be that important and great”.

 Look at it this way: Nigeria currently does not have a substantive ambassador to the US. The new ambassador-designate, Professor Ade Adefuye, is yet to be screened by the Nigerian Senate. Nobody was talking to the Americans from the presidency, so what does one expects? Ojo Maduekwe and others claiming that Nigeria is a friendly country to US should think twice, America does not count Nigeria as an important ally. What do Nigeria has, the Americans cannot get elsewhere? Even if Nigeria snubs America, its citizens (Nigerians) would be running to America for a long time to come.

 Now everybody’s talking, meaning that nobody’s talking. There’s no single Nigerian position on this issue, which is supposed to be coming from the president, because, we have no president since about 44 days now, so there’s  no unified position here since the bombing attempt happened and the Americans have capitalised on the confusion in the land to slam us hard. They (Americans) might as well be telling us, through this listing, that we need to get our act together in all spheres.

Where is the president of Nigeria who should have talked to his American counterpart, re-assuring him that his government would do everything to prevent a re-occurrence of the botched bombing attempt in future? If Nigerian president had spoken to President Obama on this issue, believe you me, the Americans would have spared Nigeria on this. But, instead of getting the true picture about the president’s health condition, the kitchen cabinet members and the wife of the president, are only trying to hoodwink Nigerians the more. We learnt that Turai Yar’Adua sneaked into Nigeria in the wee hours recently and made straight to Aso Rock where she removed vital documents before sneaking out again. Now the gang, personified by his Chief Economic Adviser, Mallam Tanimu Yakubu, is telling us that Yar'Adua called key government officials, including Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, David Mark, Bankole on phone on Tuesday, January 5, 2010 and spoke with them on key national issues and that of paramount importance to him now is the passage of the anti-terrorism bill which he, Yar’Adua, forwarded to the National Assembly in October 2009. All of a sudden, Yar’Adua picked up the phone and called the principal officers of his government after about 42 days of keeping mute. If Yar’Adua can talk, why haven’t he called the American president to express his apology for the attitude of one of his countrymen. Don’t we know that the lack of high-level diplomatic contact between Aso Rock and the White House after the failed suicide-bombing incident, helped in influencing the putting of Nigeria on the watch list? If Yar’Adua can call, why can’t he talk to Nigerians, even for a minute, from his sick bed? No wonder, in Nigeria, even a dead man or a man in coma can make a call; oh yes, in today’s technological age, everything’s possible. The absence of the president must have played into the hands of the United States, making it easier for them to blacklist Nigeria in the war against terrorism.

The Nigeria Liberty Forum in soliciting the help of the Saudi King in providing information on the whereabouts of Yar’Adua, who is in his kingdom, reminded him (the Saudi king) that as Crown Prince of his Kingdom, he took charge of the affairs of state when his elder brother, King Fahd of blessed memory, became ill. Also, that when he ( Crown Prince, Sultan) departed for the United States for treatment on November 23rd, 2008, the Saudi public was made aware of the progress in his treatment leading to his return to the Kingdom on December 10, 2009. One wonders why Yar’Adua and his sidekicks, running to Saudi Arabia every now and then, refused to learn something from the way the Saudi monarch handled his own sickness.

But what’s wrong with Nigerian leaders, don’t they have shame? They refused to fix Nigeria’s health sector, but, are going to other countries for medical care. Yar’Adua is in Saudi Arabia for treatment; his daughter and the wife of Bauchi State Governor went to United States to deliver a baby; Maryam Babangida had to die in United States, Stella Obasanjo had to die in Spain then, and now, we learnt that the wife of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr Olaitan Bankole, delivered a baby boy at a Ghanaian hospital. This Bankole’s wife is in medical school in Ghana and not in Nigeria. Many children of the Nigerian elites are in schools in Europe, America or Ghana. Even Abdulmutallab, the trouble-bringer, schooled in England! Who cares about the ordinary Nigerians? Nobody!

Some Nigerians are seeing reasons in Americans position here, despite the fact that the decision is unfavourable to all of us.  The President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Mr. Ledum Mitee has said that the decision is a proof that Nigeria needed to concentrate on internal house cleaning before spending money on rebranding. He would want Nigeria to concentrate on removing tendencies that will make a young Nigerian want to bomb a plane.

A one-time Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Matthew Mbu, said the American government could not have done otherwise in view of the gravity of the matter. Mbu asked “What would you do if you were an American? Would you go to tea party with Nigeria or go to dinner after Mutallab’s explosion?” Mbu added that this is a warning to heartless Nigerian leaders not to engage the country in a global warfare of hatred against their people”.

The Action Congress, AC, said Nigerians themselves are victims of these religious extremists, who have engaged in killing, raping and maiming of thousands of innocent people over the years. The Party went on by saying that “Nigerians, most of whom are law abiding and decent citizens, are now facing a double jeopardy – first from the misguided but few religious extremists among them and now from the US and other members of the international community seemingly intent on punishing all Nigerians for the sin of a few . If Nigeria is emerging as a recruiting ground for terrorists, it is because over the years, the government has not taken up the gauntlet of putting an end to the incessant religious crisis perpetrated by religious bigots and extremists- starting from the Maitatsine riots in the 1980s to Boko Haram and Kala Kato in 2009. Needless to say that the main reason the government has failed to stop the incessant sectarian violence is because most of those in power helped to create the monster of religious extremists in the north – just like the militants and in kidnappers in the south – for the purpose of rigging elections. Also, most of those who are recruited for these riots or violence are from the army of the unemployed or unemployables – all victims of the widespread and worsening bad governance in the land. Therefore, international partners of Nigeria must prod the government of the day to do more in stemming religious violence, and in ensuring violence-free as well as free and fair elections – a pre-requisite for enthronement of good governance. Once this happens, the ranks of those available for recruitment into extremist groups, from where they can then export their nefarious activities, will be depleted”.

 To sign off: For this writer, all the cacophonies about the listing of Nigeria as a terror state amount to wasting of energy and time. Why is everybody rising now to condemn America on this? Because, the corrupt ruling class would also be affected by the decision! America does not differentiate when it comes to law or policy; all Nigerians, whether rich or poor, politicians or students, would go through the same process at Americans airports, there would be no VIP treatment for any politician from Nigeria on American soil and that’s paining the corrupt politicians and that’s why everybody is “shouting” now. The corrupt politicians and government officials have all along used their diplomatic passport in taking their loots through the American Airports into America; this would not be easy as from now on, because, those politicians, who hitherto used to pad their body with foreign currencies or stuff their pants with currencies and pass through American airports because they are VIP from Nigeria (without body search), will have to strip, just like every other Nigerian, as from now on. That’s the bitter pill for them to swallow. The chickens are now coming home to roost at last.

 THE THANXS IS ALL YOURS!!!

Temple Chima Ubochi writes from Bonn, Germany through ubochit@yahoo.com