1. Nigerians and their talkative spokespersons: The recent failed attack on an American airliner by Al-Qaeda agent Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab has again brought to the fore the fact of nationlessness of Nigeria and her overdose of false-national consciousness. There is so much talk about the Nigerian spirit - that terrorism is not in our culture, that it is un-Nigerian, as if terrorism is part of any people’s culture at that, or Nigeria even has a national culture.
There is so much confusion, panic and jitters all over the place that simple historical facts that are merely a decade old are being misrepresented or forgotten altogether. The talkative Madam Rebranding has not also helped matters. That woman thinks information dissemination is made more effective by being loud-mouthed. Now they are shaking all over the place when there is no cause for that because they are rulers in a big-for-nothing country, which is blessed with everything except the good leaders needed to steer its ship to the shores of good governance. Let us beam some light on the facts and logic of the matter.
2. Mutallab is not a minor
Some Nigerian commentators speak as if Farouk Mutallab is a small boy. Hear them: “the boy”, “a child”, “the child had no guardian” and all that. For God’s sake that guy is an adult by any standard and am sure is going to be able to account for every of his deeds. How old were those Nigerians who played prominent roles in the coups of the 1960s to 70s? The average age of an American soldier in Vietnam was 19 years. Alexander the Great conquered the known world at 25. Muammar Ghaddafi became the leader of Libya. This is of serious consequence for public opinion at all levels. On the one hand, it is clear that Al-Qaeda has not used a minor in its war on America, on the other hand is that the Americans are also clearly dealing with an adult who must be ready to bear the full consequences of his action. So here we have a conscious offender, except otherwise proven to have had his mind snapped at a point in time.
The issue of money has also been raised. This is a non-issue. From all reports, the boy was not indigent. He had enough - more than enough. Nigerians talk about money because for many of us money is the root of all good things. But would it interest the money-worshipping Nigerian spirit to note that reports indicate that the perpetrators of the dastardly September 11 2001 attack wired back to their organization the extra funds on them a couple of days before the D-Day? Farouk Mutallab was motivated by an ideology that has gained a global footing and has strong appeal in some parts of the world. This makes it more worrisome than if he had been motivated by money or if it had just been a case of juvenile delinquency as some commentators would want us to believe.
2. Terrorism is not in our culture – Meaning what?
Whose culture is terrorism? We just open our mouth anyhow in moments of ferment. How do Nigerians want to classify the letter-bombing of Dele Giwa in 1986? How do these Nigeria-spirited commentators want to classify the bombings during the days of Abacha? The killing of journalists by hired assassins, the firebombing of guardian newspaper in 1996, the failed bomb attack on Superscreen television a week ago - are all these not some form of terrorism? Those jilted lovers who hire thugs to bath the exs in acid – is that not some form of terror?
How do Rebranding zealots want to classify the hijack on a Nigerian aircraft on October 25 1993 by agents of the Movement for Advancement of Democracy (MAD) during the June 12 Crisis? And more so, why did the Nigerian government in crushing the Boko Haram sect label the group a terrorist organization of self-styled Talibans? Honestly, there is so much confusion and misinformation flying all over the place.
3. Al-Qaeda and America
The suicide bomber is not a mad man. He is not a psychotic. He is not also a mere psychological case. He has an ideology, even when we disagree with him. Al-Qaeda (The Base) is an ideological organization. The argument of indoctrination is stale, feeble and asinine. At all levels politics in a class society is about persuasion, coercion and indoctrination. At some levels politics become the rejection of one form of indoctrination for another. Only in the primitive setting was man free from such indoctrinations and persuasions. The American government has demonstrated more than any other government that when it comes to foreign policy, government and governance is organized and legitimized banditry. The sharp-shooters always have it.
The most indoctrinated people in the world are the Americans; they wait on their government for opinions on foreign affairs and look down on all people who speak with accent. The way they sit, the way they walk, the way they eat, the way they look, the way they make and unmake – everything is so peculiarly American and expansive.
From the point of view of indoctrination, what is the difference between the American teenagers shedding their blood in the killing fields of Ia Drang Valley in 1965 for a country that was officially not yet at war and the stone-throwing Palestinian youth in the West Bank? Were the Americans coerced or indoctrinated? Indeed, I think one major difference is the fact that the stone-throwing Palestinian youth is fighting against a disagreeable reality, while the American in Vietnam fought the Gooks because they were ordered to do so.
Nigerians argue as though Americans themselves are free of blame for terrorism. Did not the Americans themselves train Osama Bin Laden and use him to organize funds and logistics for the Mujahideen in the war against Soviet-backed communist regime in Afghanistan in the 1980s? Is it easy to obliterate from our collective memory the role America played in bolstering up Saddam’s Iraq from 1980 to 1988 in an unjust war to crush the then fledgling Islamic Republic of Iran?
To combat terrorism effectively, America must steer the ship of foreign policy away from stormy waters of hate, arrogance and dominance; they must stop fanning dissent in Iran, Zimbabwe, Syria and other parts of the world where they have sown the seed of anti-Americanism. The dubious disposition to Venezuela, Honduras, Tibet and minorities of China need to be re-examined. America needs to realize that the issue of nationhood for the people of Kurdistan and Darfur should be viewed beyond foreign policy jockeying and pawn-pushing. Honestly, there is something akin to a continuation of the 11th and 12th century Christian Crusade in the recent foray of the Americans into the Middle East.
Recent experience has also shown that America as a military power has reached the end of it teeters: Intervention against so-called terrorist regimes has not led to peace in those countries. Operation Restore Hope in 1992 has only confirmed Somalia as a failed state; invasions of Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003) have turned the two countries to permanent killing fields. Terrorists can only be defeated by isolating them. And the best way to do this is to win over the people of those countries. Military actions will only alienate and temper the people and achieve temporary peace.
Nigerians running leaderless and helpless marching for a crime they did not commit.
"Nigerians argue as though Americans themselves are free of blame for terrorism. Did not the Americans themselves train Osama Bin Laden?"
4. Yemen
Yemen is not a new factor in terrorism. That was where terrorists of the World in the 1970s in the days of Carlos the Jackal held the first International Conference of terrorists. Power in Yemen is not discussed, it is slugged out and the winner takes all. This was the site of Al-Qaeda bombing of the American war ship US Navy destroyer USS Cole October 12, 2000. Yemen is an Al-Qaeda stronghold and tens of these militants were killed in a recent strike – the very reason for the failed December 25, 2009 attack. Thus if a terrorist came out of Yemen shortly after a reprisal threat and got on-board an American trans-Atlantic flight either through Abuja or through Monrovia or from Hell, America should shoulder the blame. Nigerian government has no reason fear a terrorism label from anywhere over this matter.
5. Some conjectures
Now let’s go onboard that lucky Delta airline jet and rewind a little. If that guy had succeeded and the US intelligence had narrowed down to him, would Nigeria have agreed he did it? I can bet there would have been hullabaloo about a certain attempt to denigrate Nigeria. Madam Rebranding wouldn’t have spared the accusers of the Nigerian spirit any vituperative assault. The Nigerian spirit would have spent millions of rebranded dollars to defend itself. There would possibly have been a Nigerian fever in the street, a Bacchaic dance of the slumbering giant.
Also, the world would not have known for sure that the Al-Qaeda in any case had drawn the loyalty of a Nigerian son of enviable pedigree. That failed operation has upset so many Nigerian ruling class fixations. There are Nigerians after all who are ready to die for something. It is the leaders who are not ready to give direction.
That is why we must be grateful to Mutallab for the attempt. That is why we must also be grateful that the attempt did not succeed. It opened our eyes to salient truths.
Oluwafemi Obayori (Ph.D)
a microbiologist, poet and political activist,
writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
[email protected]
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