FOR me, it remains a trip to remember. There was no single dull moment. It was either that Azu Ishiekwene (then Editor of the Punch, and now executive director of the same newspaper), had literally got lost in Borders Bookshop while combing the large bookshop for books that were possibly out of print or Ibim Semenitari (then Editor of Board Street Journal and now commissioner for Information in River State), had gone out to fetch herself a cup of Starbucks coffee. Lost in thought, Azu and I wondered if her keeping long meant she was negotiating to buy the Starbucks company instead. It was fun all the way as we had the best of the two worlds of work and leisure.
And work and leisure over, it was time to leave the United States of America for our dear country Nigeria. We could not wait to see our different families in Lagos.
I was to fly with Virgin Atlantic Airways while Azu and Ibim were to fly with British Airways. Virgin Atlantic was scheduled to depart before British Airways, but the three of us had decided to leave for Washington Dulles Airport at the same time. Our decision made a lot of economic sense. We hired our bus and split the bill among us. It was a jolly good ride to the airport from Virginia where we all stayed. We shared jokes and laughed as the bus cruised on the road whose surface is comparable in smoothness with wool. Once we alighted from the bus, I made straight for the Virgin Atlantic check-in counters while Azu and Ibim went to British Airways counters. And that marked the beginning of a bitter experience that made the joy that hitherto was written all over our faces to disappear.
 Checking in at the Virgin Atlantic counters was smooth and almost effortless. In a matter of minutes, I was through. Now free from bags filled with books, World Bank and International Monetary Fund publications, among others, I walked over to the British Airways counters to meet Azu and Ibim so we all would head to the boarding gates. Behold, they had not completed the check-in process! After they had been given their boarding passes, they were asked to go right behind the counters where their baggages would be opened and searched manually after they had been screened electronically. I wondered what had gone wrong because I had once flown with British Airways from the same airport and was not subjected to such embarrassing and humiliating treatment.
All together, we cursed and fumed as we waited for the security men to do the manual search. Then one of them beckoned on Ibim to open her baggage so he could commence the search. With some boldness whose source I still cannot fathom, I asked the security man to hold on for a moment. And he did. I fired the first question: “Are you aware that these people are Nigerians?”. “Yes, I am aware”, he responded. “Do you know they are flying with this aircraft onto which these baggages would be loaded?” went my next question. “Yes”, he responded. “Then why are you wasting your time and your energy searching the baggages?” I querried further. At this point, he ignored me and went ahead to do what he was paid to do. But I wasn’t done yet though I was pretty sure he was no longer interested in whatever I was saying. “Have you heard of any Nigerian being involved in suicide bombing?” I asked again. Still he did not respond. I then began to tell how much Nigerians love their lives and therefore would not deliberately harm themselves for any reason. I ended by telling him that Nigerians are not, will not and cannot be suicide bombers.
The manual search over, we made for the boarding gates feeling humiliated and bruised, and calling the security men names. Our anger stemmed from our belief that we were being treated like terror suspects. And we thought that was unwarranted; practically unimaginable. Again, no Nigerian had been involved in any terrorist act.
But on Christmas day, Farouk Abdulmutallab made me a big liar! He had planned to bomb an American jetliner in which he was flying with other passengers from Amsterdam to Detroit, USA. He proved that at least one Nigerian is and can be a terrorist, a suicide bomber. He had punctured all my boasting at Washington Dulles Airport. He has put a lie to all the claims that I made some years back. I cannot believe it.
But still I maintain that Nigerians are good people. I know that many Nigerians will collapse at the sight of a toy labeled bomb out of mischief. For many Nigerians, killing even a rat is not something that should be contemplated let alone killing human beings in a most wicked way.
Farouk Abdulmutallab is just one bad egg among the over 140 million Nigerians. Unfortunately, however, he has given all of us a burdensome cross to carry. He has given the entire country a bad name. Now every Nigerian travelling abroad would bear the stigma of suicide bomber, no thanks to Abdulmutallab’s faux pas. Shame on him!