Nigeria News Update: Federal Government May Severe Diplomatic Ties With the United States

Federal Republic of Nigeria Minister of Information Dora Akunyili has forcefully expressed the government's displeasure with the targeting of this oil-rich West African state as a "country of interest" related to "terrorism."
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Published 1/7/2010 4:10:00 AM

We may severe diplomatic ties with US – FG

Ihuoma Chiedozie, Abuja
Nigerian Punch

The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday expressed disappointment at the classification of Nigeria as a ‘security risk state’ by the United States Government and warned that the action could lead to a breakdown in the long-standing bilateral ties between both countries.

The FEC also warned that the development could undermine the goodwill the US enjoyed in Nigeria.

The US Transportation Security Administration had listed Nigeria and nine other countries as ‘security risk states’ following an alleged attempt by a Nigerian, Mr. Umar AbdulMutallab, to bomb an American aircraft on Christmas Day.

Other countries classified alongside Nigeria are Yemen, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.

The US government’s action had been roundly condemned by the Federal Government, the National Assembly and prominent Nigerians, but the FEC on Wednesday warned against the implications of the development, which it said would make it very difficult for Nigerians to travel to the US.

The FEC made the warning in a statement issued after meeting for about four hours in the Council Chambers of the State House, with Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan presiding.

Information and Communications Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili, read the statement to journalists.

The statement said Nigeria’s inclusion in the list was “undeserved.”

The FEC stressed that AbdulMutallab did not receive any training on terrorism within the country.

It also reminded the US government that Nigeria had signed and ratified nine out of 16 United Nations and African Union instruments on counter-terrorism.

Also, the FEC noted that Nigeria had earned international recognition for its roles in peace-keeping operations across the world.

The statement reads, “Nigeria expresses its disappointment and concern over the undeserved placement of Nigeria on the country of interest list and views this action as having the potential of undermining the long-standing and established US – Nigeria bilateral ties and the goodwill the US enjoys in Nigeria.

“It is on record that Nigeria has signed and ratified nine out of 16 UN and AU instruments on Counter-Terrorism dealing with issues ranging from money laundering, drug trafficking, crime to nuclear terrorism.

“This is in addition to its various roles in peace-keeping operations which have earned it international recognition and commendations of the UN.

“Nigeria has since December 25 expressed its deep sorrow and dismay over the incident which it condemned in all ramifications.

“It is noteworthy that Mr. Umar AbdulMutallab, though Nigerian-born, has been educated and bred outside Nigeria and only transmitted through Nigeria for less than 30 minutes on the fateful day where he underwent regular airport security.”

Akunyili refused to take questions concerning the statement, noting that it was the collective position of the FEC and not her personal view.

Meanwhile, it was gathered that the Federal Government had already ordered the supply of eight units of airport security body scanners in a bid to beef up security at the country’s airports.

A source, who disclosed the development, explained that the scanners would start arriving in the country by next week.

The FEC on Wednesday also approved the sum of N2.117bn for the final payment of the entitlements of ex-staff of the defunct Nigeria Airways.

Akunyili explained that in the council’s meeting of September 16, 2009, the FEC was informed that the Ministry of Aviation forwarded new cases of short-payment to some beneficiaries and complete omission of others totalling N.5bn.

She said, “Council directed that the memorandum should be withdrawn and that the Minister of Finance should present another memorandum for the sum of N2.117bn as the full and final payment.

“The amount of N2.117bn was uncovered as a result of shortfall in the components that made up the total amount forwarded by the Ministry of Aviation for approval.

“The errors are: the understatement in the outstanding gratuity payable to the group of staff retired in 2002 and the entitlements of deceased pensioners.”

The FEC also approved a contract for the design, manufacture and supply of 50-ton grove mobile crane GMK3050-1, including spare parts, accessories and tools, for the Egbin Electric Power Plc in favour of Messrs Manitowoc Crane Group in the sum of N11.130m plus €631, 568.18, with 12 months as delivery period.

Another contract for the design, manufacture and supply of 18 units of 500KVA and 40 units of 300KVA transformers for the Transmission Company of Nigeria Plc was approved by the FEC in favour of Messrs Skipper Electrical Limited in the sum of €981,516.00 plus N29.2m, with a delivery period of six months.

Meanwhile, the US government has insisted that Nigeria‘s name will remain on the list of ”nations sponsoring terrorism and countries of interest.”

However, the Empowered Newswire reported that the US, through its State Department in Washington DC, was hard-pressed to explain the rationale for Nigeria‘s addition to that list.

The American government, the agency reported, had also dispelled fears that it would not be granting visas to Nigerians as a result of the Christmas Day terror attempt.

According to a top US official, “there are people who are seeking to come to the United States every day. We welcome people from around the world to visit the United States to study, to work, to go to Disneyworld, whatever the case may be. We‘re certainly not suggesting that we set up a Fortress America.”

At the regular press briefing of the US State Department on Monday and Tuesday, reporters insisted on knowing the rationale for the inclusion of Nigeria on the list, wondering why the action could be taken just because of the action of one individual.

Two top officials of the US State Department, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Phillip J. Crowley and Spokesperson Ian C. Kelly, explained at different briefings what seemed to many, including the Nigerian government, a double standard treatment meted to the country.

Crowley, who is the senior of the two US officials, said on Tuesday that the US government had received protests on the matter, apparently from Nigeria, insisting, however, that the US decision on the matter, which he called a “precautionary step,” would prevail for now.

In response to the question that Nigeria‘s Foreign Affairs Minister Ojo Maduekwe had already stated Nigeria‘s objection on the matter, Crowley said ”yes, we‘re hearing some feedback from a variety of countries. I‘m not going to get into specifics.”

He added that, “This is part of a process of assessing not only those countries that we have longstanding concerns about their support of terrorism, but other countries where we think there may be existing safe havens. And for the time being, we‘re taking this precautionary step.”


US blacklisted Nigeria over oil - US action capable of undermining bilaterial ties - FG

From Seyi Gesinde, Okey Muogbo, Clement Idoko, with Agency Reports
Nigerian Tribune
- 07.01.2010

THE frosty relationship between the United States and Nigeria as a result of Chinese interest in Nigeria’s oil business may be the reason for Tuesday’s blacklisting of Nigeria and placing it on the global terror watch list, Nigerian Tribune investigations have revealed.

China’s interest in Nigeria’s oil became more glaring mid last year when one of China’s three major energy companies, China’s state-owned National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), began talks with senior Nigerian officials to buy large stakes of oil blocks in Nigeria, most importantly knowing that Nigeria has some of the world’s richest oil blocks.

What the US saw as the vulnerability of Nigeria’s oil business, due to the country’s recent negotiations with China on oil business, may have, however, posed a threat to the United States (US), Nigeria being its fifth largest supplier of petroleum.

The placement of Nigeria on the terror watch list may now appear to be an effort to put pressure on Nigeria to renegotiate its stand with its Western oil partners at this time when relations with the industry are strained.

“For some time relations between the government and the international oil companies (IOCs) have been difficult, first, over funding of joint ventures, over arrears, reviewing the terms of production sharing contracts (PSCs),” said Antony Goldman, head of London-based PM Consulting and a Nigerian expert.

Part of the US problem with the Nigerian government is that the Nigerian government was not ready to renew the expired licenses of some of the Western agents who trade in Nigeria.

Giving credence to this was Goldman, who told Reuters that: “Some of these licences have come up for renewal and the government feels they are worth more than the IOCs are prepared to pay to renew them.”

Rather than cooperating with its Western business partners, Nigeria seems to be pitching its tent with China.

Goldman told Reuters that “So far, the largest investment CNOOC has made in Nigeria was a $2.69 billion stake purchased in 2006 in deepsea oil block OML-130, which operator, Total said in March (last year) had started pumping oil to reach 175,000 barrels per day output during the summer.

In another recent negotiation, it was gathered that in its bid to acquire Nigeria’s oil asset, a Chinese second largest oil firm, Sinopec Group, had also paid $7.24 billion for Swiss oil and gas firm Addax, which operates in Nigeria and other African countries.

Looking through the trend of events as they affect the long-standing oil business between Nigeria and the US, and Nigeria’s recent relationship with the Eastern powers, a US terrorism and political violence expert, J. Peter Pham, had written in his column “Strategic Interests” in the World Defense Review that the vulnerability of Nigeria’s oil infrastructure was a threat to the national interests of the United States.

Pham, a director of United States’ Nelson Institute of International and Public Affairs, said a survey of series of disruptive events in the Niger Delta before Yar’Adua’s intervention was a great threat to America’s economy, and that a particular period of the militants’ over two weeks insurgence had a toll on United States economy with a cumulative effect.

During this period, consequent upon the last crisis in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s daily oil production was cut by around one-third, and drove the spot price for London Brent crude to $68.01 a barrel on the ICE.

Then, an average gasoline prices in the United States was $3.10 the per gallon. It kept on increasing owing to unstable production caused by raging crisis back in the Niger Delta.

Then, as a way of supporting US fears, Financial Times had reported late last year that part of the cause of crisis in the Niger Delta region was the militants’ opposition to a bid by a Chinese energy group to secure six billion barrels of Nigeria’s crude reserves.

Besides the oil business, taking together the current tight global market for hydrocarbons, the importance West African supplies in general and Nigerian supplies in particular to the US economy, and the vulnerabilities highlighted, Pham said “one cannot but be extremely uneasy surveying recent events in (Nigeria) since the farcical presidential ‘election’ of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.”

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), one of the largest militant groups in the Niger Delta region which opposed the Chinese bid, said the Chinese involvement in Nigeria’s oil would be a disaster for oil-bearing communities in the Niger Delta.

The militant group then warned that the presence of Chinese companies in nearby African countries may mean a gradual entry into the shores of Nigeria to dominate her oil busiuness.

But another researcher on African studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, Xu Weizhong, was also at that period qouted by Global Times to have opposed MEND’s threats to China investing in Nigeria’s oil business.

Weizhong accused MEND of opposing anyone who attempts to share in Nigeria’s oil revenue because it was aiming at gaining control of Niger Delta oil wealth.

He said thus: “MEND is an organisation aiming to gain control of the Niger Delta’s oil wealth and opposes anyone who wants a share of Nigeria’s oil revenues.”

However, before President Umaru Yar’Adua’s sickness relapsed in November last year, it was gathered that he had met with Sunrise, CNOOC’s representatives, after which he wrote them back on terms of negotiation.

As contained in Yar’Adua’s letter, CNOOC had asked to secure a 49 per cent stake in 23 oil blocks partially or wholly, in a deal that could be worth more than $30 billion, not respecting the fact that these blocks are owned by Western oil companies.

Such an arrangement may mean plans by CNOOC to compete keenly with Western oil companies which include Shell, Chevron, Total and ExxonMobil who at present dominate operations at the 23 oil blocs under negotiation with Nigeria’s presidency.

However, as gathered, Yar’Adua, in his initial letter to Sunrise dated August 13, 2009, disagreed with CNOOC’s request, while he reportedly told the CNOOC that the “initial offer was unacceptable,” but not without a promisory note to the CNOOC that: “Your interest in all the listed blocks will be considered if your revised offer is favourable.”

Though Yang Hua, president of CNOOC denied this deal when a Reuter’s reporter sought for his comment.

Hua simply told the Reuter’s, “You know my standard answer - no comment,” when asked if he was aware of the Financial Times report.

But the Minister for Petroleum, Mr. Rilwan Lukman, later confirmed it late last year to AFP, that discussions were underway with China, but said “no final decision has been taken yet.”

This minister’s comment left no one in doubt that there was a possibility of Nigeria establishing business relations with China.

“As far as the Chinese are concerned, we are still talking with them and (the Nigerian) government has not finalised its position,” Lukman told AFP in an interview.

He said “It is really too premature to talk about these things now. Whatever I say now may jeopardise the talks in some ways.”

Also speaking on the same matter,Tanimu Yakubu, the Nigerian president’s economic adviser, was also quoted to have told the Financial Times that China may not secure “anything close” to the six billion barrels it is seeking, saying: “We want to retain our traditional friends,” while he didn’t deny having a byusiness negotiation with the Chinese firm.

He added, however, that the Chinese “are really offering multiples of what existing producers are pledging (for licences). We love to see this kind of competition.”

Another busines partner, Peter Hitchens at Panmure Gordon & Co also said the reserves that could change hands would be smaller than six billion barrels.

“Although we believe that this deal is unlikely and that the actual reserves sold could well be smaller, it highlights the desire of Chinese oil companies to secure significant reserves in Africa,” Hitchens said in a note.

When contacted on Wednesday, a reliable petroleum ministry source told Nigerian Tribune that the Federal Government was looking for new investors, especially from Chinese companies.

The source also informed that the FG was ongoing with the probe of oil blocks allocation.

Efforts to get the reaction of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the allegation of a possible link between the failure of Nigerian Government to renew operation licences of some American oil companies operating in the country and the blacklisting of Nigeria as a terrorist nation proved abortive on Wednesday.

Though the Special adviser to the Minister, Professor Bola Akinterinwa promised to speak on the allegation when Nigerian Tribune sought comment, he later claimed to be in a meeting and subsequent attempts including phone calls and text messages proved abortive.


Nigeria on terrorists list, fallout of Yar’Adua’s absence - group

Muda Oyeniran, Lagos - 07.01.2010
Nigerian Tribune

Amidst the prolonged absence of President Umaru Yar’adua due to ill-health, another group of eminent citizens, on Wednesday, demanded the immediate swearing-in of the vice-president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, as acting president saying the classification of Nigeria as a terrorist state by the United States was a major fallout of Yar’Adua’s absence.

Acting under the aegis of the Jubilee Group, the members asked Nigerians to collate their signatures through their constituencies to their representatives in the National Assembly requesting them to invoke the relevant section of the constitution under the present circumstance.

According to Mr. Doyin Okupe, protem chairman of the group at a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, the prolonged absence of the president had become a major source of embarrassment to the nation saying the country was now like a ship without direction.

“Perhaps one of the most devastating consequences of the president’s inability to function is the failure of the Nigerian government to give appropriate diplomatic response to the issue of the Nigerian-born terrorist, which has now led to the unfortunate classification of Nigeria as a terrorist state along with such rogue nations as Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia”, he added.


Terror listing: FG not doing enough to defend Nigeria - PPA

Kunle Oderemi, Lagos - 07.01.2010
Nigerian Tribune

The Progressive Peoples Party (PPA), on Wednesday, said the branding of Nigeria as a terror state by the United States posed a serious socio-economic and technological implications for Nigeria.

However, it said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government was not doing enough to defend Nigeria following the latest action.

The PPA claimed the failure of the government to react strongly against the accusation was giving the world the belief that Nigeria was guilty as charged.

A Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was accused of attempting to blow up a Northwest Airlines aircraft on its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

In a statement, PPA’s national chairman, Mr. Larry Esin, said the US action could have far-reaching consequences for the country.

“The government that claims to have been ‘elected’ by the people is sitting back and watching the stripping of Nigeria before the entire world.

“The branding of Nigeria as a terrorist nation has far- reaching consequences for all of us Nigerians; it will dampen economic growth and the much-touted Vision 20:2020 and the PDP’s so called seven-point agenda, as foreign direct investment will shrink astronomically, he said.”

According to the party chief, the much-needed technology transfer and capacity building would also shrink as visas for students and other vocational training would be reduced. This will affect productivity and, by extension, GDP in the long term.

“Even humanitarian aid to the country may wind down as foreign aid workers and medical experts may be discouraged by their home governments from coming to Nigeria,” he said .


Blacklisting: More Nigerians react

From Christian Okeke and Shola Adekola - 07.01.2010
Nigerian Tribune

Professor Charles Dokubo, a research don with the Strategic Studies Department, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos, has expressed the hope that the United States government will, in the long run, delist the country from the terror watch list, though he doubted if that would come soon.

Professor Dokubo, who spoke exclusively with the Nigerian Tribune in a telephone interview, said he believed that it would take some days before US officials would bow to the pressure on the controversial blacklisting of Nigeria and advised the Federal Government to explore every diplomatic step to achieve the goal.

The don, while wondering the parameter used in blacklisting the country, expressed shock at the action he described as ‘bad incident’ and wondered how the US officials could go ahead with the action when the father of the terrorist-suspect, Umar Abdulmutallab, informed international security agencies of the behaviour of his son before the attempt.

He noted that the action was uncalled for, as Nigeria was in active partnership with the US on anti-terrorism, which included Sub-Saharan Anti-Terrorism Initiative.

On the option available to Nigeria should the Obama’s administration fails to delist Nigeria, Professor Dokubo warned that the country did not need to do anything extraordinary apart from what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already done.

“Nigeria needs to work in concert with the US on anti-terrorism drive. But no matter how the US government looks at it, Nigeria has never been a terrorist state,” he added.

Also, an aviation lawyer, Captain Dele Ore, has said the United States’ resolve to blacklist Nigeria may not be out of place after all.

Stating this in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, the former Nigerian pilot based his position on aviation convention for the suppression of unlawful seizure of aircraft, Hague 1970, and some other international law instruments.

Captain Ore, while saying Nigeria’s Civil Aviation Act 2006, Section 57 (2) (b) viewed the botched terrorist attempt by Abdulmutallab as grievous, said the1970 Hague convention stated, among other things, that “considering the unlawful acts and exercise of control of aircraft in flight can jeopardise safety of persons and property, seriously affect the operation of air services and undermine the confidence of the people of the world in the safety of civil aviation, and also that the occurrence of such acts is a matter of grave concern.

“Therefore, to deter such acts, there is an urgent need to provide appropriate measures for punishment of offenders.”

Ore, who said the convection did not exclude any criminal jurisdiction exercised in accordance with national laws, declared that ”the above principle of sovereignty makes the US government to be right in whatever steps it thinks fit to address the heinous crime against her and her citizens. Nigeria has no choice out to cooperate with the US to fight against terrorism globally.”

Equally, Chief Executive Officer, Scope Centre, an aviation security consultancy firm, Adebayo Babatunde, has described the US’ position as wrong and unfortunate on the ground that Nigeria has never been found to be a training ground for terrorists.

Although Babatunde said the US’ action did not come to him as a surprise, he added that blacklisting the country had shown that America now perceived Nigeria as an emerging base for al-Qaeda.

Adebayo, who said it was not in the character of Nigerians to attempt terrorism, advised the US to treat the action of the 23-year-old Nigerian in isolation rather than criminalise all Nigerians.

The aviation security expert, however, alerted that there would be additional scrutiny of passengers and flights from Nigeria while airports would be advised to implement higher security protocols associated with heightened threat levels.

According to him, the US government must be acting based on security assessment conducted by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

”However, the TSA in the US will implement a security safety management system appropriate in their estimation to secure their country after conducting a security risk assessment. The US government will implement necessary programmes as dictated by the result of their security risk assessment of any destination,” he added.


Abdulmutallab to appear in court tomorrow

By Edekyn Ilofuan with Agency Reports - 07.01.2010
Nigerian Tribune

THE Nigerian who attempted to blow up a United States-bound airliner on Christmas day will be arraigned at a Michigan Federal Court tomorrow. He will appear in court on terrorism charges.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian mechanical engineering graduate, will be facing a civilian criminal trial.

The hearing, which was rescheduled last Monday, will take at a federal court at 1900 GMT to determine if United States officials can obtain a DNA sample from Abdulmutallab, who was accused of trying to blow up the airplane as it descended towards Detroit, Michigan.

He was, on Saturday, 26 December, charged in a federal court with trying to detonate the device as the plane approached Detroit.

Abdulmutallab is currently being held in a federal prison in Milan, Michigan.

He was transferred to the prison, last Sunday, after he was treated in hospital for serious burns suffered in the thwarted attack.

The charge sheet prepared by prosecutors claimed that Abdulmutallab tried to bring down the Northwest Airlines Airbus A330 using a device containing the explosive PETN, also known as pentaerythritol.

Passengers said he claimed he was unwell and covered himself with a blanket after he spent about 20 minutes in the toilet.

They claimed it was when he was under the blanket that he attempted to detonate the explosive which failed to explode due to some fault.

Meanwhile, criminal defendants tend to scorn public defenders, but the Detroit criminal bar said Abdulmutallab would be hard- pressed to find any better defence team than the one headed by Miriam Siefer of the Federal Defender Office in Detroit.

"These guys are good," said prominent Detroit criminal lawyer, William Swor, who had defended terrorism suspects and other high-profile criminal suspects over the years. "The Federal Defender Office in Detroit can hold its own against any law firm in the country."

Siefer is the lead attorney for Abdulmutallab. She'll be joined by veteran defenders Jill Price and Leroy Soles.


US jury slams six-count charge against Mutallab

By Ayo Okulaja
Nigeria Next
January 7, 2010 04:16AMT

A United States grand jury, on Wednesday, filed a six-count charge against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab for attempting to bomb a US-bound airline on Christmas Day. Mr. Mutallab is accused of “attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction” on the plane, according to the AFP.

A federal grand jury in Detroit indicted the 23-year-old Nigerian of “boarding Northwest Flight 253 ‘carrying a concealed bomb’ inside his clothing”, court documents showed.

“The weapon of mass destruction charge carries a sentence of up to life in prison in the US.”

Other charges against him include attempted murder of 289 passengers on board the plane; attempted murder within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, willful attempt to destroy and wreck an aircraft within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, willfully placing a destructive device on an aircraft and two counts possession of a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence.

According to the charge sheet “the bomb consisted of a device containing Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN), Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) and other ingredients.”

“The bomb was designed to allow defendant Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to detonate it at a time of his choosing and to thereby cause an explosion aboard Flight 253” it added.

He was arrested on Christmas day when the device stitched inside his underwear failed to detonate and he was overpowered by passengers and crew on board.

Mr. Abdulmutallab is currently being held at a federal prison in Michigan while he awaits trial, which will commence on Friday “in a Michigan court to face the indictment brought by the jury”.


Published 1/7/2010 4:01:00 AM

Nigeria’s blacklist: Soyinka says screening in US strenuous

Oyetunji Abioye
Nigerian Punch

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Wednesday arrived from the United States after a brief visit and described the new screening regime for air travellers in the United States as “very strenuous.”

The Nobel Laureate, who arrived in Nigeria aboard Delta Airlines, wore a black pair of trousers and a brown top.

He was believed to have travelled in the upper class cabin of the aircraft, being one of the first few passengers that came out through the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

When asked what the new passenger screening system looked like in the US, Soyinka answered, “very strenuous”

He, however, explained that he could not grant an interview because he was coming from a very long trip.

On his opinion about the recent blacklisting of Nigeria by the US, Soyinka replied ‘no comment’, adding, “ I am just coming back from a long trip.”

It is, however, expected that the Nobel Laureate would speak on the matter later.

However, there are indications that many Nigerians have also been subjected to very strenuous screening processes at the US airports and other ones across the world.

Some passengers aboard Delta from the US, about one hour after Soyinka, also described the new screening system as rigorous.

Most of the passengers, who refused to give their names, said the blacklisting of Nigeria “is one of the most unfortunate things” that can happen to the country.

A passenger told our correspondent that he would rather prefer to go through Europe to America due to the “embarrassing” screening processes.

A former Managing Director of World Airways, Dr. Peter Obafemi , who also arrived from US, described the new security process as very “tight”

“One of the things US don’t want its security officials to come and meet people at the jet way, before the checking point, to demand their travel documents. This was what happened to me on January 1, when I arrived at the US, shortly after the unfortunate incident.”

A Nigerian, Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab had on Christmas Day attempted to blow up an American airliner shortly before the aircraft arrived in Detroit, Michigan.


Wednesday, January 06, 2010

...NUJ denounces America’s decision

News of Nigeria

THE Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has expressed disgust over the decision by the United States to blacklist Nigeria, by placing the country on the infamous list of “countries of interest”. According to NUJ, “This means that Nigeria has been dubiously classified alongside the world’s most dangerous countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and others, for the simple reason that a Nigerian national, Farouk Mutallab was arrested for allegedly attempting to blow up an American aircraft last December.”

The National Secretary of the union, Shuaibu Usman Leman, in a press statement yesterday in Abuja, accused the United States government of overreacting and stretching the Mutallab incident beyond reasonable limits.

According to the NUJ scribe, subjecting Nigerians to discriminatory measures through enhanced screening techniques such as body scans, pant downs and thorough searches of carry on luggage portray the American government and Americans in bad light before Nigerians.

Leman called on the Nigerian government to address a strongly worded letter of protest to President Barack Obama, condemning the decision of the US Transport Security Administration to subject all Nigerians on US bound flights to random screening. This according to the NUJ is not only in bad taste but also an out rightly untoward decision.

The national secretary who said that while the NUJ regrets the involvement of a young Nigerian national in the alleged terrorist act, that singular incident, he stated was not sufficient reason enough for the US to categorise the entire Nigerian nation as a terrorist enclave.

Leman finally called on the Federal Government to be proactive enough by reviewing all relationships with the US government, in view of this unwarranted campaign of smear and outright provocation.