Gambia News : Gambian leader condemns terror plot by Nigerian youth

Commenting for the first time on the alleged Christmas Day attempt to bomb a United States airliner involving a young Nigerian citizen, the Gambian president Yahya Jammeh in a Friday night television broadcast told the visiting Nigerian Foreign Minister that the incident unfortunate.

“Out of the 70 million Nigerian Muslims, only one person who spent nine years or so of his life in Nigeria and the rest outside the country decided to do something that would have been catastrophic for humanity and a blow to our brother President Barrack Obama. So one Nigerian out of 70 million Muslims has put the country in a humiliating situation,” he lamented.

The president noted that the alleged Christmas Day bomb suspect is the first African to be “misled” by “criminals” who are using the holy religion of Islam to embark on inhumane crusades. He noted that Islam would not encourage such activities that will lead to the killing of innocent people. He described such terrorism activities as “un-Islamic” noting that they are “criminal activities.”

Committing suicide and killing innocent people, the president stressed, is the unforgivable sins by the Almighty Allah, and he called for a common stance to fight against such a menace.

The president concluded by assuring the Nigerian chief diplomat that their two security institutions responsible for counter-terrorism will work closely to strengthen the security network.

The Nigerian Foreign Affairs minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, described the suicide bombing attempt as a challenge to them, informing the Gambian leader that the young man left the shores of Nigeria at the age of ten years. He noted was a fact that has not been disputed, and that the whole world woke up to a terrible Christmas when the Nigerian young man attempted to blow up an aeroplane.

“If even though we accept responsibility that he is our son, we say what he did was not Nigerian. With about 70 million Muslims in Nigeria, who are among the most liberal, very tolerant and most peaceful Muslims anywhere in the world,” Chief Maduekwe stated.

“What he did was most un-Nigerian and we condemned it very strongly,” he indicated, noting that Nigeria does not deserve to be included in the world terror list.

He pointed out that Nigerian citizens are contributing positively in the socio-economic development of countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom amongst others. The recent image, he noted does not represent the totality of the Nigerians, describing the country’s listing in the world terror list as an unacceptable “New Year gift.”

He stressed that global terror is a challenge and that no country is immune to it, and called for concerted efforts by all to address the menace.