If successfully carried out, the oil auction could propel Nigeria back to Africa’s top oil producer. Militant violence and oil thefts have cut Nigeria’s oil production by about 1 million barrels a day, allowing Angola to surge ahead.

The story of Abdulmutallab, a staunch Muslim who was schooled in Britain and other places and the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker and politician, is not the kind of story Nigerians say their nation needs at this critical time.