Why US Blacklisted Nigeria

Nigeria’s weakening diplomatic ties with the United States may have largely contributed to the blacklisting of the country along with others long suspected of habouring potential terrorists.

Angry reactions have continued to trail the decision of US to place Nigeria on the list of “countries of interest” in its fight against terrorism, with the National Assembly yesterday rejecting the US classification in the wake of the failed terrorist attack on an American airliner by a Nigerian suspect, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab.

Investigations revealed that the relationship between the two countries has been weakened in the last three years – a development that is said to have made it “very easy” for the US to blacklist Nigeria.
The situation is further compounded by the lack of high-level diplomatic contact between Aso Rock and the White House after the failed suicide-bombing incident.

Todd Moss, vice president and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington DC who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during the Bush administration, highlighted this fact in a widely circulated article entitled "Where in the World is the Nigerian President?" posted on the web yesterday.

He wrote: "Amid all the media frenzy around the Nigerian underwear bomber and how America should have stopped him before he tried to blow up a passenger plane on Christmas Day, a critical piece to the counter-terrorism puzzle seems to have been missed:  where in the world is the Nigerian President? Normally, after such a horrific incident, President Obama would be on the phone with his counterpart, discussing what went wrong and agreeing on ways to work better in the future to prevent such attacks.  But this couldn’t happen because Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar’Adua left his country for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia on November 23rd and hasn’t been seen or heard from since."

He further wrote: "The failed terrorist attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Northwest Flight 253 highlights that Nigeria’s power void is dangerous for the U.S. as well.  The foundation of a counter-terrorism strategy is to build cooperative partnerships with friendly nations.  This means sharing information and helping to build security capacity in places like Yemen, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. But we cannot have a partnership if there is no one on the other end of the line."

To compound matters, Nigeria currently does not have a substantive ambassador to the US.
The manner of recall of the former Ambassador to the country, Brigadier-General Oluwole Rotimi (rtd), who made an ethnically offensive statement, was considered to be highly untidy.

His proposed replacement, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, was rejected on grounds that his son allegedly gang-raped three women in the US city of Baltimore.

Adeniran had already been screened and confirmed by the Senate before his credentials were thrown out.
That rejection was unprecedented in the country’s diplomatic history and might have further thawed relations with the US.
The new ambassador-designate, Professor Ade Adefuye, is yet to be screened by the Nigerian Senate.

A source in the diplomatic community, who spoke under condition of anonymity, stated that “the inclusion of Nigeria in the list of unfriendly countries is a climax or crescendo. It’s been cumulative. It may not have happened if we had very good relations”.
It was gathered that the Presidency as an institution has not engaged with the White House “as much as necessary”.

President Yar’Adua has been absent from all United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York except in 2007 when he addressed the Assembly for the first time. Nigeria was represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ojo Maduekwe in subsequent meetings.

On the day AbdulMutallab allegedly embarked on the suicide mission that would have claimed the lives of some 300 people, Nigeria was not in a position to embark on a high-level diplomatic engagement with the US because Yar’Adua was in Saudi Arabia for medical reasons and Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan had not been officially empowered to act as President.
Yar’Adua has been out of the country for more than a month because of ill health.

“President Barrack Obama could not have been discussing with Nigeria’s security adviser or Mike Aondoakaa (the Attorney-General),” the source added. “He had nobody to discuss with.”
Also, Nigeria lacks a strong lobbying group in the US, which sources say, might have been useful immediately after AbdulMutallab was arrested.

“The lobbying group would have swung into action immediately AbdulMutallab was arrested to sensitise the American authorities,” the source said.
During the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Goodworks International, an American lobbying firm, was hired for Nigeria. But the contract was discontinued when Yar’Adua came into power.

reports gathered that another company, Patton Boggs, was secured to do the same job. However, it is not certain if the group is active.
Another source argued that if Nigeria had a substantive Head of Mission or Ambassador in the US, he would have sought audience with State Department officials such as the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to intervene on Nigeria’s behalf.
“International relations is a matter of positive engagement. Any damage done could have been averted by active engagement. Simply put, we have not been positively engaging the US,” said the source.

Last Monday, the US included Nigeria in a list of “countries of interest” whose citizens would face thorough screening before entering the country. Other nations on that list are Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Algeria, Pakistan, Libya and Somalia.

There are yet others such as Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria that are regarded as “state sponsors of terrorism”.
Nigerians would now be subjected to pat-downs, scans, restriction on the use of electronic equipment such as iPods, laptops etc and restricted movement one hour to landing.AbdulMutallab is currently awaiting trial in the US.

Meanwhile, the Senate and House of Representatives have unanimously rejected the latest move by the US.
Chairman of the Committee on Information and Media, Senator Ayogu Eze, said at a press briefing in Abuja that the Upper House was unhappy about the classification and would take up the matter when it resumes.

The House acknowledged the right of the US or any other country to set out measures it considers fit to protect its citizenry and sovereignty but faulted the timing and circumstances leading to Nigeria’s inclusion on the terror list.
Also yesterday, Maduekwe said the US move is “unacceptable and unprofitable”. He made the statement after a closed-door meeting with the US Ambassador Robin Renee Sanders.