Nigeria's former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has, however, lent his voice in condemnation of the U.S. action when he cautioned against victimisation and inhuman treatment to Nigerians anywhere in the world. In like manner, General Yakubu Gowon also called on America and her Western allies to drop the country's name from the terrorist list.

Incidentally, Nigerian Senate took the notch higher last Tuesday, January 5, when it gave the American government an ultimatum to remove Nigeria from the list or risk a diplomatic row. Not done with that threat, Akunyili followed up on Wednesday by promising that Nigeria would consider a severance of diplomatic relations with the U.S.

But the U.S. officials have remained adamant, claiming that there had been preponderance of evidence that Nigeria was becoming a likely haven for terror groups like Al-Qaeda, which Nigeria had shown no commitment in confronting head-long.

While bemoaning the fate of being blacklisted, there is feeling in certain quarters that Nigeria has actually been a victim of poor leadership and governance that has seen the country tilting towards the Middle-East and fraternising with countries of the left. Some of such nations considered as outright sponsors of terrorism include Sudan, Iran and Syria.

Before this terrible blow on the country's image by Abdul Mutallab, the integrity of Nigeria had actually been on consistent downward spiral. This was a major reason President Umaru Yar'Adua once lamented the exclusion of the country from a G-20 meeting in London last year.

Mr. President had said: "Today is a sad day for Nigeria as a country. This is because we are not invited to a meeting of the 20 world leaders. We have the population, we have the resources and we have the potential."


The current situation is also blamed on the absence of Yar'Adua, who is currently recuperating in a Saudi Arabian hospital, which has left a vacuum in governance. Some opinions have also blamed Nigeria's relations with Yemen, which is written boldly in the abhorred list of terrorist states. America has actually closed her embassy in that country, so also countries that have been partnering with her to fight terrorism.

Just as Nigeria does not have an outright leader, so also does it not have a substantive ambassador to the U.S. Oluwole Rotimi, a retired Brigadier-General, was relieved of his post since March, last year, following a disagreement with the Foreign Affairs Minister.

Tunde Adeniran, who replaced him, was rejected by the American government, on an allegation gang-rape by his son. The current ambassador-designate, Professor Ade Adefuye, is yet to fully take his post before the ugly incident.

The Nigerian President had on some occasions been accused of fraternising with pariah leaders such as Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and Bashar Assad of Syria. By October 25, 2009, it was reported that Nigerian government had permitted the visit of Al-Bashir to attend the African Union (AU)'s Peace and Security Council meeting in the country.

This was greeted with gale of criticisms from both individuals and groups, which forced the establishment to deny him entry. International Criminal Court (ICC), to which Nigerian is signatory, had, on March 4, issued an arrest warrant on Al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Yar'Adua had, on several occasions, been seen in photographs with Al-Bashir and Assad, suggestive of defiance to the warrant.

There is also the fear in some circles that the U.S. listing will have an adverse effect on various sectors of the Nigerian economy. Before now, fraud and insecurity had always dented the country's image, causing Western countries, especially the U.S., to caution their citizens against coming to Nigeria with travel advisories. But with Abdul Mutallab's Christmas Day bomb attempt, there are opinions that even the obstinate ones will begin to think twice about visiting the country for any reason.

For instance, the U.S. issued a travel advisory to her citizens in May 14, 2008, following threats and 24-day ultimatum by Niger Delta militants, after several clashes with the military, to oil companies in the region to quit or face attacks.

Tourism, the new burgeoning sector, is also expected to be affected by the recent development.

Many Nigerians in the industry have argued that the sector has the potential to equate with oil as the nation's foreign exchange earner; but there is little doubt, especially now, as the recent classification, according to informed minds, will hurt the sector in no small way.

Ikechi Uko, publisher of Apapa Travel Market, is of the opinion that the listing is not good news for the travel industry in the country. Uko is full of regret that all the efforts made in the past one year to promote tourism in the country was about to be washed down the train. He sees the current situation as more dangerous than the travel advisories the U.S. was giving to its citizens.

"The blacklist is worse than travel advisories because it means that Nigerians are the problem," Uko lamented.

It is the opinion of majority of respondents, who spoke on the issue that the Christmas Day attempted bombing would definitely impact negatively on not only the tourism industry, but the country as a whole. "From the way things are going, tourism will take a large fall for Abdul Mutallab's action, except our government goes the extra mile to remedy the country's image," said one respondent.

The 2009 Calabar Carnival in December, for instance, was described as a huge success, as many foreigners thronged the Canaanland to savour the beauty and the performances as well as Nigeria's rich cultural heritage. But there is fear today that the classification of the country by the U.S. as a terrorist threat would scare such foreigners or others contemplating visiting other such tourist attractions across the country.

Another area many believe the terrorist list would affect Nigeria is in its quest to become a permanent member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council. Nigeria formally kick-started her campaign in May 2005, aimed at securing a seat on the UN Security Council with a high-level meeting at the presidential Villa in Abuja at the instance of Obasanjo.

Present at the conference were the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar, governors, Chief Justice of Nigeria and top government officials. Also in attendance were erstwhile Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar; former secretary-general of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku; Nigeria's envoys to the U.S., UK, Japan, China, Brazil, India, Russia, Switzerland and its permanent representative to the UN.

In his opening speech at the meeting, Obasanjo had maintained that the purpose was to discuss Nigeria's quest for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council under a reformed UN. At the end of the summit, a national awareness committee of the UN reform was constituted. Since then, Nigeria has continued to make frantic moves towards ensuring that it clinched one of the two possible seats for Africa alongside countries like Egypt, Senegal and South Africa.

Security Council is the most powerful organ of the UN, and it is made up of five permanent members and 10 elected (non-permanent) members. Countries with permanent membership in the council include China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and United States. These countries possess the veto powers.
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Currently, the elected (non-permanent members) are Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Others include Brazil, Gabon, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Turkey and Uganda. Consideration for the new (permanent) membership proposal in the council is for Brazil, Germany, India, Japan and Nigeria. The body is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security.

There is, however, the belief by many that Nigeria's quest for a permanent seat at the Security Council is a legitimate demand that deserves international support. In June last year, the Senate president, David Mark, renewed the campaign before President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain in Abuja. According to the number-three citizen, Nigeria occupies a pivotal position in Africa and desires to be accorded as such. He specifically appealed to the Spanish president to help take Nigeria's campaign for a permanent seat at the UN to other European countries.