Nigeria makes US Hate List…Why?

It took just one foiled (thank God) attempt by a British resident, and Yemeni trained (but Nigerian passport carrying) terrorist to give the United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) the unique opportunity to show her true feelings towards Nigerians. The “scapegoatism” that Nigerians are routinely subjected to for white collar crime is now not enough, now we are tagged as potential terrorists. As a friend remarked, “our passport went from being a pen knife to a pistol”!

It is sad, very sad. Over the years, Nigerians have been known for every bad thing on earth, but one thing we always stood out for was our non-violence. Nigerians are so slow to anger, that even her leaders routinely take advantage of this hospitality to glaringly loot her treasury- hoping always for the standard forgiveness (ask Maryam Babangida). But alas, it appeared that some in Barack Obama’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could not just wait to lump Nigeria in the TSA new “countries of interest” list. A list that groups our fatherland with terror sponsoring nations like Iran, Yemen and Sudan, but conveniently leaves out famous terrorist training and meeting grounds like France, UK and Germany! Nigeria is either paying the price of liberal political correctness or has become the victim of election year paranoia by the dovish left wing that control DHS.

Why Nigeria deserves to be on this list baffles me. Okay, granted the guy is Nigerian. But his lifestyle hardly mirrors that of an average Nigerian. This guy traveled the world, and represents something experienced by little over 1 in every 20 million Nigerians. If he lived in Nigeria and not the United Kingdom, I bet the internet connection with which he established contact with Al Qaeda would not only be too slow for that purpose, but may never work due to power supply! Indeed, his probability of making time for such stupidity will be significantly diminished after going through the hassle of Lagos traffic!

Aside from his life having very little to do with Nigeria, it was Netherlands’s security that failed woefully to catch the guy in action. He lived in Britain where he picked up his radical ideas. He visited Yemen, where those ideas got fertilized. Then, why Nigeria? Is this a case of attending Jeremiah Wright’s church and hereby being guilty by association? What has 140 million Nigerians got to do with a British resident, and Yemeni trained terrorist? Barack Obama promised a politics of hope, not a politricks of fear. The list emanating from TSA has everything to do with fear and paranoia than actual danger. Chad, Niger and other unstable Islamic countries surrounding Nigeria should find themselves on such list before Nigeria. Yet for some unexplainable reason, poor old peace loving Nigerians somehow are now collectively on Barack Obama’s terror hit list!

Well, the reasons why Obama’s TSA will turn on Nigerians are up in the air or blowing in it for that matter. Either as a cynical act of geopolitical racism, where everything black equates Moslem and bad (ask the “birther” movement) or ineptitude, it appears the Democratic Party controlled DHS was only interested in finger pointing than solving a problem. The lumping of Nigeria with pariah states like Yemen, Sudan and Iran shows a significant lapse in judgment that seriously questions the foreign policy credentials, and intelligence chops of the Obama administration.

If Germany, where a number if 9-11 terrorists trained and holed up prior to the attack, did not merit a closer TSA scrutiny, then why Nigeria? Last I checked Britain was not singled out for the shoe bomber incident even though that Lilliputian carried a British passport (and was radicalized in Britain). Perhaps, may I used this opportunity to invite the United States to the unholy list her TSA created since an American born major in her own army just recently carried out an attacks on his own colleagues? How about that “tough guy” Obama?

And of course, when it comes to truly securing the American people the Obama administration and the American people (especially its foreign policy elites) are simply playing Ostrich. May I submit that it is no coincidence that London, Paris and Berlin are featuring more frequently when terror strikes in any part of the world? These cities sit intricately at the heart of a nefarious network. Their mosques are fertile grounds for hate speech hiding behind western democratic values like free speech!

Taking a close look at societies across Western (read “old”) Europe, churches are being routinely converted to mosques by Moslem immigrants living in a continually faithless society that will rather watch football than go to church on Sunday. These critical masses of mosques are modern day breeding ground in urban areas like Birmingham, London, Bristol, Paris, Lens and Berlin for Euro-terrorists. The true enemy is staring America in the face, and the white establishment can simply not confront the fact that their European cousins are creating conditions that substantially undermine the security of America. Let truth be told.

Let it be said as it has always been that Nigerians take exception to all forms of violence and terror. We didn’t even have the liver to combat ourselves in a brutal civil war for up to three years! We love life, and live it to the fullest. Adding our nation to this political hit list is an act of ignorance at best, and paranoia at worst. This is definitely not hope we can believe. It looks exactly like fear you can benefit from politically, a la the dangerous Bush years that Mr. Obama promised to turn a page on. So much for hope!

P.S: To the political elite in Nigeria now playing dangerous politics with the health of the President, Nigeria’s inept response to the US list is a sign of dangerous things to come. It is time for our sick President for the sake of 140 million Nigerians to give way and allow his deputy to assume power. It is time to get real!