The Politics of Terrorism

The US government and other governments in the world will begin to make meaningful progress in their quest to solving the problem of terrorism when they stop playing politics with this global challenge. I will start from my nation Nigeria as we have now found ourselves in the middle of the whole terrorism saga being classified as a nation that constitutes a risk to the civilised world. The spate of religious crises has continued unabated in the country ( as i write this piece, my city, Jos is still observing curfew from midnight to six am since November 2008 as a result of religious riots) because our government’s penchant for political correctness; they continue to deny the fact that certain Islamic extremists are in the habit of unleashing terror on innocent people in their quest to Islamize the world through violence called Jihad rather our governments will prefer to regard these violent acts as being political rather what it really is – JIHAD ( Islamization through violence). The government will prefer to allow the trend to continue because of votes; the US government and other western governments will also choose to turn away because of crude oil.

The point must be made that the problem of terrorism is an Islamic problem, why cant we see it?  Why can’t Nigeria and other nations of the world just make bold to say and declare the obvious rather than focusing on measures that will never work. We are asked to remove our shoes in the airports after a Muslim guy hid explosives in his shoe; we are not allowed to enjoy our musical devices on flights because some violent Muslim guy used the mobile phone to detonate a bomb; we are being stripped naked now, after it was discovered that Farouk hid explosives in his underpants, i don’t what will happen next. Is it not obvious enough that this is an Islamic initiative? I have not seen any one of any other faith being arrested for terrorism expect Muslims even their numerous videos from the grave confirms this but our world leaders refuse to accept this obvious fact.

I know by now may readers will be saying that I am biased against Muslims, but on the contrary, I must state here that there millions of peace loving and civilised Muslims all over the world and I happen to know quite a few of them and my heart goes out to them, but the fact must be stated and I make bold to say for their sakes.

The only power that can defeat Islamic terrorism as I choose to call this plague is in the hands of millions of peace loving and civilised Muslims who are by far in the majority; they must now arise and confront those using their faith to unleash terror on the civilised world. But these guys will not see the need to fight this battle as long as the powers that be continue to deny the obvious

Terrorism is an ideology , it is a belief and the Obamas and the Browns of this world must know that there are no bombs or any weapon at that that can destroy ideas. It will take another idea and belief to conquer it.

May I conclude this piece by calling on the US government to properly define the classification of Nigeria as a terrorist nation. If it is to serve as a challenge for the government to deal with her domestic terrorism challenge, it is perfectly in order, but to use it humiliate Nigerians at airports would be totally out of place. Nigerians are peace and fun loving people, to even stage a protest against a corrupt government is a major challenge talk less of carrying bomb, the Farouk incident MUST BE SEEN AS AN ISOLATED CASE which it is.

Where is our President?

I was so delighted yesterday when I saw Femi Falana, the President of West African Bar Association and some other chieftains of the Nigerian Bar Association took the protest against the unconstitutional conduct of our president to the law courts yesterday. I was beginning to exercise the fear that this issue might just go away and Nigerians continue their “normal life”as other equally critical issues go in Nigeria, but I am hopeful that our attitude is changing. We, Nigerians have this laid back attitude against injustice, we tend to just don’t want anything that will disturb the rhythm of societal decay. When there is no power from Power Holding Company, we buy generator; when there is no fuel in the pump stations, we are quick to adjust our pockets even it means getting into debt to purchase from the black market touts. This is one attitude that we desperately need to change.

Our President has been out of the country since the 23rd of November 2009 and his where about  is unknown; it has also been claimed in the media that one of the reasons why the US government was quick to classify Nigeria as a terrorist nation is because there is no credible person to negotiate with on the issue as we have become a body without a head.

The call for this “run away” president to do what is right by handing over the reigns of government to the Vice President must not allow to die until he does the right thing. It is true that the President is human and can be ill and i think this is major reason why the position of the Vice President was created in the first place, but Mr Yar’Adua is making us believe the contrary now & his mouthpiece, Mr Andoakaa is portraying the nation as a nation of barbarians by saying that the President can rule from anywhere in the world.

My prayers for Nigeria this year is for the nation to learn how to say “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”; we need to learn the language of protest, let us take a cue from Iran. These so called leaders will not stop taking us for a ride if we we don’t rise up as responsible and civilised people.

We can only overcome by “not loving our lives even unto death” (Revelations 12:11)

Nigeria on Terrorist Nations List

The United States recently revised her list of nations considered to be sympathetic towards terrorist activities and decided to include Nigeria as a reaction to the recent terrorist attempt by Al Qaeda sponsored Farouk Mutallab. As expected the Nigerian government is crying foul and condemning the decision but as far as I am concerned, this is more like crying over spilled milk. It does not as surprise to someone like me who resides in Jos City in the North Central region of Nigeria but more like a welcome relief because the domestic terrorism that has been unleashed on this region by Islamic fundamentalists is at last getting international attention. I wrote on this page in December 2008 after the Jos ethno-religious crisis that the crisis in Jos is part of a global initiative to Islamise the world (please read the entire blog below). This same government did nothing when Churches were burnt and innocent citizens murdered in the Northern part of Nigeria when a Western media did a cartoon on Mohammed portraying him as a bomber. When the world trade centre was bombed in September 2001, there was celebration in Zamfara state but our government did not know that the world was watching; when Israel attacked the Gaza strip, there was tension and sporadic demonstrations in some Northern States of Nigeria, our government did not make any statement condemning such an act.

The problem with our leaders is that they are so consumed with their treasury looting and power grabbing agenda that they are totally unaware that the world changed after the US 9/11 event, as far as they are concerned, governance is still a domestic affair, that whatever happens here is a private affair. While the Information Minister was condemning the decision of the US in blacklisting Nigeria, a Muslim cleric in Kaduna was being interviewed by CNN and he claimed that the Nigerian Muslims are affected when Muslims are oppressed any where in the world and that they cannot fold their arms and watch, in other words they are part of the global agenda to protect the Islamic faith and the Jihad agenda - this sounds very much like Osama Bn Laden to me.

I must however state categorically here that Nigeria is not an Islamic nation and therefore must not be categorised as a terrorist nation, when we take a close look at the population spread in Nigeria and add up the number of Christians, traditional worshippers with those without any religious inclination and add those of the Islamic faith who are not Jihadists especially in the Southern part of the country (Northern Muslims do not consider them to be Muslims, many of them were killed during the recent Jos crisis; infact I once heard a Hausa Muslim said that he cannot worship in a mosque where the Imam is non Hausa)  they by far outnumber these Muslims but the fact remains that the irresponsibility of those entrusted with political powers in Nigeria has allowed Islamic terrorists to thrive in the country as culprits go unpunished.

The point must be made loud and clear that Islam is terrorism and this must be borne in mind when decisions are made concerning terrorism; I have not seen any Michael, Johnson being arrested for a terrorist act, it has always been the Farouks, Mohammeds and all the Abduls, please let’s call a spade a spade and deal with the issue as it is.

This classification of Nigeria as a breeding ground for terrorism is a good omen for Nigeria as it provides an opportunity for our government to at least once stand up for our citizens who are being humiliated daily within and outside the nation. A visit to any embassy in the country will confirm this humiliation.

To the international community, I say that Nigerians are fun and God loving people; they hate to die, they love life. Please exercise restraint in relating with us at immigration points, the terrorists are in a very very small minority.