Rev Ladi Thompson links terrorism in Nigeria to Osama bin Laden’s Global Agenda says, Tinubu, Shettima have deal with terrorists

The founder of the Macedonia Initiative and Senior Pastor of Living Water Unlimited, Rev. Ladi Thompson, has asserted that the root of terrorism in Nigeria can be traced to Osama bin Laden, the founder and first general emir of the militant Islamist organization al-Qaeda.

Bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces on May 2, 2011, and was said to be the mastermind behind numerous major terrorist attacks, most notably the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in the United States.

​Thompson made this inference of Terrorism in Nigeria to Osama Bin Laden’s global agenda during an online interview with Adeola Fayehun on Saturday, November 22, monitored by Church Times.

​According to Thompson, what is unfolding in Nigeria is a fight for the soul of the country, a mission he believes is bigger than the foot soldiers prosecuting the terror war.

He also claimed that top government officials, including President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, have compromised Nigeria’s security architecture through their “romance with the terrorists.”

​Thompson, who has been at the forefront of signposting Nigerians on security issues over the last 20 years, painted a graphic picture of how Nigeria has fallen into the hands of terrorists.

​Global Agenda, Local Face

​He said, “What Nigeria is dealing with is both ancient and modern. It is bigger than religion and deadly. We are dealing with something that is global but has a local face. It’s a supremacist agenda perfected by Osama bin Laden when he globalized religious terrorism.”

​He clarified that this is not merely a Fulani problem, stating, “It is bigger than that. There are five to six groups we are reckoning with. And it has a head in education, security, defense systems; it has infiltrated governance and the media. The objective is to take the whole of Nigeria using different templates.”

​Shedding more light on this, he mentioned different groups like ISWAP, Boko Haram, and the herdsmen. “These are different legs, but they have one vision, which is to take over Nigeria using Islam as a cover. That is why for the first 15 years the terror was targeted at Christians.”

​Thompson recalled his prior warnings: “I said it publicly that in the later years, when they want to take over completely, they will start killing Muslims as well. And that is what is happening. I said that about 10 years ago. We are dealing with something that is global.”

​He summarized the alleged ultimate goal: “Their goal is to take over Nigeria, take West Africa, and eventually Africa, and use those resources to dominate the world.”

​The Sudan Connection and Fatal Error

​Thompson stated that Osama bin Laden was in Sudan between 1991 and 1996 “perfecting the model to globalize terrorism and rule the world with Sharia.” He claimed Bin Laden knew they would have to kill Muslims as well. “So what we are dealing with is bigger than just a religious problem; it’s a supremacist agenda covering its face with Islamic religion.”

​Thompson observed that one of the greatest undoings of Africans is their inability to gather and process data, adding that nothing he has predicted in the last 20 years about the evolution of terrorism has failed to materialize.

​He took exception to the idea of arresting terrorists and absorbing them into the Nigerian Army. “That alone is an amazing case of stupidity. I have never heard of this kind of madness before,” he said, reiterating his observation over the years that the government has been complicit in the operation of the terrorists.

​He cited instances where young girls and sometimes married women were kidnapped and married off to terrorists with the awareness of some governors.

​Gumi, Pantami, and Intelligence Failures

​Regarding the activities of the terrorists, he stated, “The first terrorist attack in Kaduna started when Sheik Gumi came back from Mecca.

“His first Tafsir was his call to slaughter. The VHS tape came to me because we had been setting up early warning systems. When we got it, we translated it into English. At that time, President Obasanjo was the president.”

​Thompson credited the late General Overseer of the Foursquare Church, Rev. Wilson Badejo, with helping to present the document to President Obasanjo. The plot was followed up, and it was discovered that they had planned to kill about 600 people in Kaduna. Thompson claims he had to preempt the operation by going to the media to announce their intention.

​He also cited the appointment of an alleged al-Qaeda operative, Isa Pantami, as a federal minister during the Buhari government. On the allegation that Pantami was an al-Qaeda operative, Thompson said, “I supervised an operation in 2004 when a young Christian was slaughtered in the mosque of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University. It was this Pantami, who was a lecturer at the university at that time, who put a fatwa on certain students because they preached the gospel to Muslims in the university.”

​He claimed it was after that fatwa that a student of the school, Sunday Achi was killed. “When we got to know this, we had to evacuate the other students from the school to other countries.”

​While noting that the number of all the insurgents put together “can’t be more than 450, 000,” he said, “It is the intelligence that is arranging logistics and safe passage for them that is the problem.” He insisted that the Nigerian Army is compromised in the whole mess, citing instances where soldiers receive conflicting signals from their bosses, thereby making it easy for the insurgents to operate.

​Claims Against Tinubu and Shettima

​Addressing President Tinubu, he said, “My eyes are on the president of Nigeria. He needs to be careful. I have nothing against him. He is an astute, consummate politician. But he does not realize that there is a global problem that he is dealing with. In order to be president of Nigeria, nobody can argue that there were deals that went on. What he did was to play the different terrorist groups against each other.”

​Thompson recalled that the Catholic church bombing in Niger State some years ago was traced to Kabiru Sokoto, who was arrested but escaped from custody and was later found in the house of the current Vice President Shettima.

​Still on Tinubu, Rev. Thompson said, “Tinubu is one heart beat away. I feel sorry for him. In a way, we need to protect his life. He may think he has the guts to face these people. But I can tell you, he has totally misread the size of the problem he has waded into. The mantra of this government is, ‘What money cannot solve will be solved by more money.’ But what is presently on the ground is more than that.”

​Thompson expressed hope that Nigeria can become great again in a short time if the right things are done, while also expressing confidence in the intention of President Donald Trump. He urged the government to take advantage of Trump’s offer. “If we mismanage this opportunity, God will not forgive us,” he said.

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