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Terror Watch List: Nigerian lawmaker deported from Amsterdam Schiphol

Posted by Paul "EFCC" Hawk Adams on January 21, 2010 at 6:00pm
A high-ranking Nigerian lawmaker, Tuggar Yusuf Maitama, this week became the first major casualty of Nigeria’s new inclusion by the United States among 14 nations allegedly with terrorist links. Hon. Maitama, who represents Gamawa federal constituency of Bauchi State, is the Chairman of the Committee on Public Procurement in the House of Representatives. Mr. Maitama was traveling to New York on a KLM flight on Monday when the US Immigrations and Customs agents in Amsterdam pulled him aside and told him that he could not fly to the United States, having been found to have “terrorist tendencies”. His visa was immediately revoked and the lawmaker was deported to Nigeria. But Saharareporters quick search through US no-fly list and terrorism-related databases did not yield Maitama’s name. It is not yet known if Maitama was coming to New York as part of an official delegation sent by the crumbling Yar’Adua regime to meet with UK and US officials over the inclusion of Nigeria in the terror watch list. The group, which includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe; the Senate Chairman on Foreign Relations, Jubril Aminu; his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Umar Bature, as well as the chairperson of the EFCC, Farida Waziri, made a stop-over in London yesterday, and is expected to arrive in New York later today. They are to be lodged at the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel New York. That means it will be an interesting visit, as they will be welcomed tomorrow morning by Nigerian protesters who are getting ready for a Save Nigeria Group "Enough Is Enough" rally at Nigeria House on the other side of the same block. The cumbersome delegation is unlikely to meet with much success in the US. The US state department has already dispatched to Nigeria a delegation, led by US Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Africa, Johnnie Carson. It is expected to leave for a crucial three-day trip to meet with Goodluck Jonathan. Mrs. Waziri's inclusion in the delegation is a surprise. Owing to the poor work of the EFCC, she is highly unpopular with the US government, and the EFCC was singled out for criticism last year when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Nigeria. In addition, Mrs. Waziri's first visit to the US a few months ago ended with her being heckled and chased out of an official function in New York by Nigerian demonstrators. That encounter could be repeated tomorrow.
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