When Umaru Farouk Abdulmuttalab failed on Christmas day, it was a first time-the first time a Nigerian, () was named in a major terrorist incident in the world.For several years Nigeria has remained the only target of Al Qaeda, which had not suffered a direct attack by the terrorist group. That, on its own has been a fundamentally positive factor for Nigeria. It simply suggested that despite the country's experiences with religious, ethnic and political intolerance, extremism was still a long way off in defining the attitude of its people.

Yet following the Muttalab affair, the US has identified certain countries including Nigeria whose citizens would henceforth be subjected to tougher airport screening, some of which is widely expected to be dehumanizing (see picture above). The question that has been on everyone’s lips is: why the rush to impose such a measure on potentially millions of people for one man’s misdemeanor.

Already, the Nigerian Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili declared on Monday 4th January, 2009 that the new rules by the US are unfair. According to her: “Abdulmutallab's behaviour is not reflective of Nigeria and should therefore not be used as a yardstick to judge all Nigerians. It is unfair to discriminate against 150 million people because of the behaviour of one person". The Minister’s concerns are not misplaced as when emplaced the new regulations could subject the country’s most brilliant minds and leaders, to ridicule. No one REPEAT no one is likely to be spared as racist officials may even exploit the opportunity to completely dehumanize our persons. Without any sense of doubt, the US stance in this case is TOTALLY WRONG AND UNFAIR. It remains for all decent people the world over to rise up and speak out against this abuse of human dignity. />