U.S. Removes Nation From Terror List

Vanguard

24 July 2011

U.S. Removes Nation From Terror List

Nigeria may have been delisted from the countries that harbour or sponsor terrorism against the United States (US) and its allies which was the source of diplomatic tension between the two countries following the ill-fated attempt by a foreign based Nigerian student, Farouk Umar Farouk Abdulmuttallab, to bomb a plane in Detroit, US on December 25, 2009.

Nigeria's external image took a dip in January 2010, when the US placed the country on global terror list following the failed attempt by Abdulmutallab to detonate the bomb strapped to his pants while, on the domestic front, there have been a spate of bomb blasts targeted at politicians, the security agencies, churches and academic institutions by the Boko Haram sect operating in the northern part of the country.

Foreign Affairs Ministry sources told Sunday Vanguard that Washington has removed Nigeria's name from the terror watch list which subjects Nigerians as well as nationals from the listed countries to special security checks on their arrival to the US.