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.
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