Bomb Scare In Detroit Airport And A Nigerian: A Political Set-Up or Religious Upset?
The problem with religions inside Nigeria is that they are either too narrow and exclusionary or too vague and ambiguous. Some do not have boundaries and anything goes. Others are too restrictive and insist you belong and comply or face damnation. Most major religions thrive by making their followers feel inadequate and unworthy. Fear, shame and guilt are the cornerstones of the world’s biggest religions. Problems associated with your daily routine are blamed on your lack of goodness and virtue. Maybe adversity come calling because you are not following your religious tenets closely enough. Terrorism is an adversity! A fanatic is sectarian attitude. They say it is Islam but “Islam” is derived from the word “salam” in Arabic which means “became secured” so by this way “Islam” means “Peace”.
Nigeria and moral-minded Nigerians are disappointedly weeping, if not contempt, but for a 23-year-old Mr. Farouk Abdulmuttalab and sympathy for his family at his the foiled attempted plane bombing at Detroit on the Christmas day. It seemed to prove our civilization has lost some of its structural integrity. Perceptions of the intangible, most salient components of civilization that are derived from its principles, morals and spiritual beliefs including codes of ethics, values, lifestyles of every Nigerian will hereby forever be weakened. Future generations born of Nigerians may be affected by this weakness via a diminution in the quality of our collective experience. They may fear each other a little more, trust each other a little less, be a little more apprehensive of each other’s motives and detach from intimacy in seemingly imperceptible yet additive increments.
But despite its name, Nigeria is a safe destination to the world. The traditional hospitality of our people is being reinforced through education. No right-thinking man would send his ward abroad for terrorism but most persons do not necessarily need Al Qaeda to perform some nefarious activity like the one Farouk attempted. He needs thorough scrutiny: psychiatric and belief since an suicide attempts takes diverse ways; even if the insinuation has more to do with terrorists’ situation involving bomb threats, and scare.
Faced with these uncertainties, the Nigeria government is setting up a monitoring system. We will disseminate a quarterly analysis of the major political, economic and social trends to check next-time incidence occurring in the region within the international context. We will also continue to carry out structural analyze to promote regional action, notably in the field of international security, youth moral training and resources for development as well as cross-border co-operation, migration, youth (combating child labour ), conflict and governance.
Even if people feel the fact that Nigeria has entered the book of terrorism, unforeseen incident and crime are inevitable, even when diversity become bedeviled , religious becomes anarchy, bigotry and fanatism, amidst tribal segregation, illiteracy, leadership ineptitude and corruption, Nigeria will reposition for better. But the politicians who fail to guide Nigeria accordingly will live to regret it; those who mismanaged our resources for deadly religious alternative will reap an equivalent fruit. Can you now see that a bird that perch on the rope, knows no peace as the rope it peach on.
The ominous dark cloud of widespread bomb terror triggered by misguided Islamic Nigerian hung over the integrity of every Nigerian including the Christian citizen abroad, including our Embassies abroad. Free-movement for our compatriots in Diaspora is at stake. Their business life is becoming restricted. See where Religious fanatics are taking the nation, probably to soil our rebranding project and to deface Yar’Adua’s 7-point agenda in order to paralysis the foreign policy of this administration and its history. But May God forbid it!
If you want to see true picture and success of Islam read the history of Islamic era of Prophet Muhammad and his companion’s period after him. God has promised success of here and hereafter for those who will follow Islam in its true spirit and not to those who are not practicing Muslim. Non-Muslims who are accepting Islam and following it in its true spirit are far better than non-practising muslims. So you better judge Islam by studying its sacred scripture and the life of Prophet Muhammad and not the present Islamic leaders.
The Nigeria’s government may get no choice than to take all possible precautionary measures against any attempt to spoil the Nigerian image abroad and then save our integrity and face. The Nigeria police, the security agencies, and their paramilitary counterpart and members of other security and law-enforcement agencies should take routine patrol 24 hours on this occasion to foil any possible bomb attacks.
The “Hausa nation” which extends over 83 000 km2 and includes more than 50 million inhabitants, astride Nigeria and Niger have lived for centuries without terrorism history but for internal restive issues. The towns of Maradi (Niger) Katsina-Kano (Nigeria) constitute one of the oldest development corridors, for centuries open to the Gulf of Guinea, North Africa and the Middle East. With a dense urban network organised around the built-up area of Kano, it illustrates the Niger economy’s polarisation by Nigeria all along the 1500 km border. Favourable to industrialization, its development relies on the cultural homogeneity of the Hausa people. Commercial trade is robust: cattle from Niger, cereal and manufactured products from Nigeria or even products re-exported towards Nigeria through Cotonou, and the border hub of Malanville-Gaya.
Yet the Islamic fanatics and their politicians are not coming back to their senses. But politicians in Nigeria are in no mood to listen to the voice of reason. They are busy with their power politics. Even when the nation plunges into a trap of deep-rooted and widespread terrorism, politicians continue to settle old scores against each other. Even when Nigeria is appearing as a notorious nation in the eyes of the world for alleged suicide bomb attacks foiled-out from an Islamic scholar, politicians fail to reach a broad-based national consensus to fight out terror and organize themselves against religious extremism.
Good-riddance within July this year, the Nigeria’s military launched an offensive against members of the extremist Boko Haram Islamic group .A suspected sponsor of the sect, Mohammed Yusuf-led sect, Alhaji Buji Foi, were given summary execution in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital by the police.Their execution took place at the state police command headquarters in Maiduguri.
Foi’s death came 24 hours after Yusuf was killed in action. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Christopher Dega, confirmed the death of Yusuf, during a gun battle with joint military/police team .Quite a number of policemen were killed during the four-day battle with the Yusufiyya sect members in Maiduguri. Curiously, Foi was a Commissioner for Religious Affairs during the first term of Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State, Nigeria. Before then, he had served twice as Chairman of Kaga Local Council, among other top public offices in the state.
Foi, said to be a wealthy man, was arrested in his farm by the operatives of the Operation Flush 11 led by its commander, Col. Ben Ohanatu, where he allegedly camped women suspected to be wives of the sect’s members. The former commissioner allegedly used his connection in the state to provide shelter for the fundamentalists.
And as Nigerian politicians continue to fight against each other over narrow partisan interests or power politics, the forces that once opposed the independence of Nigeria continue to gain strength. Today, they are a major political force to reckon with in Nigeria. When will our politicians realize
their follies and take necessary measures for course correction? When will they be smart enough to place the interest of the nation on top of their narrow partisan objectives? A politician will be remembered for how he or she serves the nation, not for how many years he or she remains in power.
Rather sick, utterly unsavoury and totally appalling, the young man has brought our dear battered National image to its grave…I wonder if Mr.Abdulmuttalab, who wished to label himself a suicide bombers to tarnish Nigeria, ever pause to ask why Osama Bin Laden is yet to commit a suicide attack personally? They are just a bunch of numskulls furthering the agenda of mentally ill fellow. My sympathy goes out to his family even though i seriously think that their handling of the matter was unsatisfactory going by African/Nigerian standards, his father ought to have done more. Now is the time for the Nigerian Government to take a stance against Religious bigotry that has long pervaded our society unchecked owing to the influence of Northern elements in power.
Today, Nigeria is standing at a crossroads. The nation cannot even celebrate the greatest Christmas in its history freely since her captain is on sick-leave and without spontaneous joy the terror erupt. What could be more pathetic than this situation? And then again a real threat of terrorism triggered by growing Islamic militancy poses a serious challenge to the very survival of Nigeria as a democratic and secular nation. The politicians regardless of faith and ideology must unite themselves for a common cause of restoring the spirit of independence and the values of the liberation war as well as fighting terror triggered by religious intolerance and extremism.
There is now a new group of well-educated, extremely rich, politically conscious and technologically savvy Nigerian terrorists that is far more dangerous than Al Qaeda. Their fathers spent their lifetime stealing our money and positioning themselves in the best political space in the country. The fathers’ dream was to Islamize Nigeria at all costs while brainwashing their children to follow the most radical form of Islam to enable them perpetuates their hold on power in the country. In the meantime, they use their religious opium to put the average Nigerian muslim to sleep while they plunder the country. They send their accursed children to the best schools in the world while they tell their followers that western education is for sinners.
It all still boils down to tribal intolerance. The Moslem north, the south west and middle belt of Nigeria has maybe an equal number of Christians and Muslims but we have never heard of any crisis between the two groups probably because they are of the same tribe: maybe am too young to have witnessed one. The civil society in Nigeria has to come up with a solution since we are so unfortunate to have dumb people who can not even manage their families at the helm of affairs. The future of Nigeria and maybe the world will be determined by actions we take now.
Despite differences over partisan interests, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and their opposition parties have at least one thing in common. Most members of both parties played a significant role in the liberation of Nigeria from the military junta, with the democratic movement of course in the forefront. So, both have a historic responsibility to respond to the call of the nation. At this time, nothing is more important than freeing Nigeria of terror and Islamic militancy. Both are expected to join hands in the common fight for liberating Nigeria once again – and this time – from widespread bomb terror and religious intolerance.
Automated Finger Identification System, Integrated Ballistic Information System and Command, Control and Communication (C3) are some of the equipments the international airports authiorities is expecting to get. The Nigerian government is set to employ a counter-motivation strategy for Nigerian students to prevent them from being wrongly motivated and misguided by the various international Islamist extremist organizations.
A fight against terror and religious extremism will also go a long way in restoring the spirit of independence and the values of the liberation war. And for those who fought in the liberation war, restoration of the values of independence is of utmost importance. Power-centered politics certainly is not.
