Owoye Andrew Azazi - Counterterrorism Issues

Counterterrorism Issues

Azazi emerged from retirement to assume the National Security Adviser (NSA) post as a civilian. He inherited a range of challenges from extremists, including the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in his native region, and the rise of a new violent Islamist group called Boko Haram, which first emerged in 2009.

Shortly after taking office, Azazi presided over the interception and public exposure of a large illegal shipment of weapons from the Islamic Republic of Iran. He did not speculate publicly on the origin of the weapons, and left it up to the Foreign Ministry to make the official allegation before the United Nations. News accounts differ as to the destination of the arms, with Israeli reports saying they were headed for Gaza, and others, including Nigerian government sources, saying they were to be smuggled elsewhere in West Africa, including to rebels based in Senegal and Gambia. Nigerian officials arrested an Iranian national reported to be a senior officer with the Qods Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and placed him on trial. The Iranian government called the shipments a "misunderstanding."

As National Security Adviser, Azazi worked with other countries, notably African neighbors, European countries and the United States, toward developing a new security and counterterrorism strategy. In the autumn of 2010, he met with then-CIA Director Leon Panetta at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. In August 2011, Azazi held meetings with US AFRICOM Commander Gen. Carter F. Ham about American training and sharing intelligence to combat Boko Haram and Niger Delta extremists. He attended a CIA event in California in November. On Christmas Day, 2011, the White House confirmed that U.S. officials had been in communication with top Nigerian officials to combat terrorism.

Azazi took a systematic approach to the reform of Nigeria's security and intelligence apparatus, with a low-key demeanor that some critics termed as indifference. He was quoted as having said in effect that real reform comes with human development of national security personnel and officials and greater citizen participation, and not with mere documents, statements, and bureaucratic or leadership rearrangements.

The few public statements Azazi made as the national security advisor on terrorism matters tended to be cautious and nuanced. Azazi appeared to prefer allowing the Foreign Ministry and judicial system to make definitive statements to the public, which led some critics to allege that he had not been attentive to counterterrorism matters.

In contrast to his public persona, Azazi was reported to be aggressive behind the scenes. Nigeria's State Security Service (SSS), which reports to Azazi, took what observers consider an unusual step in November 2011 by arresting a federal senator and charging him with aiding Boko Haram. That senator, Mohammed Ali Ndume, had switched political affiliations to become a member of President Jonathan's own party. After Senator Ndume's arrest, a federal court in December 2011 ordered the politician jailed in expectation of a trial in 2012.

Azazi appeared to be studying extremist threat doctrine in his shaping of a national response to Islamist extremism. Islam in Nigeria takes many forms, and Azazi sought to differentiate among them. After the Christmas 2011 Boko Haram bombings of churches, Azazi strongly cautioned fellow Christians against talk of retaliation against Muslims or even wider religious warfare. He called on citizens to question the strategic intentions of the perpetrators, and said that counterterrorism policy must address those strategic intentions.

Discussing Boko Haram and its strategy to incite retaliatory sectarian violence, Azazi said, "Have we thought of what their ultimate intentions are? Why will somebody go on to bomb Christians on a Christmas Day? Look at the ultimate intentions. Do they want to really raise tempers elsewhere?" Boko Haram terms Nigeria an "enemy of Islam" and seeks the disintegration of Nigeria as a country.

Rather than pursue counterterrorism solutions that would require mass policing of the country, Azazi stressed public participation in monitoring extremism and in assisting the security services.

In January 2012, Azazi praised the bipartisan findings of a homeland security subcommittee of the U.S. Congress that characterized Boko Haram as a threat to the "U.S. homeland." The subcommittee report urged stronger U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism ties with Nigeria. Azazi publicly voiced support for a strategic security relationship with the United States in an essay he authored for the Washington Times.