I haven't and won't read all the posts leading up to mine, so pardon me if I "step on toes" as I think I might with what I say.

First things first, Nigerians anywhere in the world should be able to tell anyone who starts to "misbehave" towards them because of this issue to go to hell and stay there, whether they wanna do it in a diplomatic manner or otherwise, whatever method you feel will get the message across best.

The fact that some fool tried to blow up a plane has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the fact that he is Nigerian, it has more and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that he is MUSLIM. end of story. He didn't try to blow up the plane because he feels that America is mistreating Nigerians in their country, or anywhere else, he did so cos he feels America and the west are treating MUSLIMS unfairly. So it is not a nationality issue, it is a RELIGIOUS issue. So Americans, and Britons and other nationals who act stupidly and act like fools towards Nigerians on this topic should wake up and smell the coffee.

kawkab:

There is a very important issues we are neglecting; that is , Northern Nigeria has been breeding Islamic Fundametalist and Radical Islamist in the past 10 years.

Christian have been attacked and killed severally across states like, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Gombe, Borno, Plateau, Bauch and Jigawa in the past 8 years. In states like Kano, Kaduna and other it has occured up to four times if not more.

Recall the Boko Haram and most rececntly (Dec. 2009) the Kala Kato saga. There are radical islamist sect scattered in different location in Northern Nigeria.

Mind you there have never been a single case of unprovoked attack on Moslem in Southern Nigeria. Umar Muttalab grew up in Kaduna he may witnessed the hatred for Christian and seen first hand the attacks on the Christian in Kaduna and his hatred for the Christians symbolised by western nations. Thus the birth of terrorism in him. If not how come he or other moslems in Nigeria would be claiming to love Afghanistan when their leaders are looting Nigeria blind, subjecting the entire polity to poverty. Infact, his father benefited from the mad looting of the Nigerian State.

What Umar Muttalab did is just the exporting of something that has been brewing in Nigeria for some time. More is still coming.

edoyad:

@kawkab, that's a very intelligent contribution you have made. Many people here speak out of sheer ignorance but don't know zilch about these matters. Come and see how divided many places with large non hausa populations have become divided, especially places like kaduna state that probably have a 50% non hausa population that are fed up to the south of the state, and a 50% hausa population that put Osama stickers on their cars to the north of the state. These things didn't start today.

This is a truly sad and unfortunate development. I am very concerned because once Nigeria makes it unto a bad list, it usually impossible for us to get off (e.g most corrupt, most dangerous). But this has been coming. When Osama bin laden started making references and including Nigeria amongst nation sympathetic to Al-qaeda in his speeches and addresses, I wondered why our government and the various muslim societies didn't take the potential for trouble seriously. Any one who knows Osama history, knows the man doesn't make idle threats. If he was mentioning our name it wasn't just for "show", there was a strong reason why he did that. Instead the reaction was to dismiss the threat as insignificant. Government said that there were no terrorist training camps here so there was nothing to worry about. It is that typical "siddon look" and "I dey kampe" approach that is causing us trouble now.

Why should the action of one errant misguided boy be causing so much difficulty for over 150 million citizens? After all this is the first and only incidence directly linking Nigeria to any form of international terrorism.The reason is simple. It is the reason why a country like Egypt is not on that list. While the Egyptian government has accepted the potential for terrorist activities within it boundaries and instituted strong counter-measures. We have adopted our usual "fire brigade" approach, only taking action at the last possible moment. It sad to see our name amongst a list of countries that have produced countless terrorists and have long histories of even funding terrorist activity. We shouldn't be on this list but there no compelling reasons why the US should not take precaution.

Facts are that Osama (terrorist-in-chief) has asserted that Nigeria is among countries sympathetic to his cause (killing Americans & it allies and spreading radical Islam), a terrorist passed through Nigeria's premier international airport with an explosive device, he happens to be a Nigerian citizen, tried to blow-up a plane and to crown it all has said that there are many others like him. The realities are that it is only natural that the US government might feel a bit paranoid about a potential threat of Nigerian affiliation, after all Osama himself said he has allies here. Had our government shown more seriousness before by carrying out investigations, increasing security and information gathering in potential vulnerable areas and had the numerous Islamic communities done more than just condemning after the fact, but assisting the government in asserting it seriousness with ensuring there are absolutely no established ties between Nigeria and Al-qaeda this wouldn't have been considered necessary. If our government were responsible there would be no reason why the US wouldn't have had faith in our ability to deal with this issue without resorting to drastic measures. But look at how we have handled the Niger-Delta, religious conflicts in the North, elections and so man other things.

The reason we are on that list is not because anyone genuinely thinks we are as a bad some the nations that are on it. It is because every body knows that our nonchalant attitude will ensure that we will never address our problems until it is too late.

Tipia:
Have you never questioned why even the most ardent militant black American and Caribbean prefers to visit Kenya or South Africa

Tipia, Quote:

they prefer kenya and south Africa to Nigeria because those places have electricity.

blackasia:

to hell with muslems it has been a religion of violence., to hell with mohamed the polygamist,to hell with u gullible fanatics that want to bleep 7 virgins in heaven.to hell with the hausa for invading nigeria through usman dan fodio, to hell with the northerners u ve been the woe of this country, u all will rot with the devil in hell

PurestBoy:

You're wrong ma, its 72 virgins per muslim fool and not 7.