‘Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram targeted Lagos US Consulate’

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Latest Politics Sunday, September 11th, 2011

Even before the suicide bombing of the United Nations office in Abuja on August 26 that left 23 people dead, the fundamentalist Boko Haram sect, the al-Qaeda and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat had planned a similar attack on the United States Consulate in Lagos.

The plan to attack the US consulate was conceived shortly after the US intelligence community confirmed the presence of al-Qaeda in Nigeria in 2005.

A US government cable issued by whistleblower, Wikileaks, shows that senior American officials held a meeting to deliberate on the threat after it was uncovered and confirmed by their intelligence services.

The emergency meeting, which held in Lagos inside the US Consulate, was convened to forestall the attack. It had officials of the Central Intelligence Agency, the US Drug Enforcement Agency, political and economic officers and other embassy officials in attendance.

The cable says the attendees examined the threat and carried out a ‘current threat assessment’ to gauge other likely threats.

The cable says, “Lagos core security chiefs convened today to review post security posture in light of the current threat. The threat reporting indicated the Consulate General in Lagos had been a primary target for terrorist activities.”

Instead of taking ‘emergency measures,’ the CIA resorted to tightening security at the Consulate and on Walter Carrington Street.

The cable says the meeting decided to “develop a comprehensive plan to enhance security, specifically regarding the control of the public street in front of the consulate office building.”

Security is believed to have been subsequently tightened at the Walter Carrington, Victoria Island address of the consulate, especially on the street and the stretch of the lagoon facing the Consulate.

Also at the meeting, the Boko Haram sect was described as the ‘Nigerian Taliban’ and the American security agents confirmed that al-Qaeda had firm roots in Nigeria.

The cable read, “Reporting indicates that al- Qaeda is in Nigeria and has contacts with other terrorist groups including the GSPC and the Nigerian Taliban.”

Meanwhile, as the global community marks the 10th anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States, President Barack Obama has ordered a communications campaign against terrorists groups abroad in countries like Nigeria where terrorist activities are increasingly feared and elsewhere where they have found roots, Empowered Newswire reports

The US government announced that its Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme had been made available to Nigeria among other countries that had suffered one terror attack or the other in recent times.

A statement from the US Treasury Department over the weekend said the TFTP was initiated in 2001 “to identify, track and pursue terrorists and their networks.

“The TFTP has since provided thousands of valuable leads to US agencies and other governments that have aided in the prevention or investigation of many of the most visible and violent terrorist attacks and attempted attacks of the past decade.”

Citing Nigeria as a recent beneficiary of the programme, the US Treasury Department said, “For example, TFTP-derived information has played an important role in the investigation of the October 2010 Nigerian Independence Day car bombings in Abuja, Nigeria. The TFTP has provided crucial information that has been used to identify persons linked to these attacks.”

US government sources said the programme was continuously available to the FG to help it in its renewed fight against terrorism which Obama fears is now seeking to gain roots in African nations like Nigeria.

It would be recalled that after the recent bombing of the United Nations offices in Abuja, the US and the UN have joined the federal government in the probing, especially with the active involvement of FBI agents.

Similarly, over the weekend, Obama issued an executive order creating a temporary US organisation to counter the propaganda of al-Qeada, its affiliates and other terror groups abroad, including in African countries.

The order read, “The United States is committed to actively countering the actions and ideologies of al-Qeada, its affiliates and adherents, other terrorist organisations, and violent extremists overseas that threaten the interests and national security of the United States.”

The order added that “these efforts take many forms, but all contain a communications element and some use of communications strategies directed to audiences outside the US to counter the ideology and activities of such organisations. These communications strategies focus not only on the violent actions and human costs of terrorism, but also on narratives that can positively influence those who may be susceptible to radicalisation and recruitment by terrorist organisations.”

Once the temporary organisation is in place, it is believed that its activities will reach countries like Nigeria through the US Embassy.

The order also added that “under the direction of the Secretary of State, a Centre for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications has now been established.”

The Centre through the US Department of State “shall coordinate, orient, and inform government-wide public communications activities directed at audiences abroad and targeted against violent extremists and terrorist organisations, especially al-Qeada and its affiliates and adherents, with the goal of using communication tools to reduce radicalisation by terrorists and extremist violence and terrorism.”

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