this situation is a sad one.
He is responsible for his action because he is an adult. it is unthinkable that a Nigeria will venture into this kind of thing.

it is not a crime to send my children abroad for good education.

i wont want to die for any reason. i have a lot in me to change situations.

cheer!

@sauron

His movement couldn't have been restricted. His parents stay in Nigeria, Farouk was staying in the UK where he probably got radicalised.
As soon as his parents suspected him to be misbehaving and travelling to the middle east, they alerted security officers.
America should be held responsible for giving this dude a Visa despite him being on their watch-list.

that's is what u fail to understand, a good parent should be able to control and when necessary restrict the child's movement especially at an early stage. And no amount of money u spend on a child will yield any positive result if u fail to inculcate good family values into him/her and provide the necessary guidance for such a child.
This is simply one of the results of child neglect,

tolu001:

@sauron
that's is what u fail to understand, a good parent should be able to control and when necessary restrict the child's movement especially at an early stage. And no amount of money u spend on a child will yield any positive result if u fail to inculcate good family values into him/her and provide the necessary guidance for such a child.
This is simply one of the results of child neglect,

I agree with you 100%. What happened on the plane was as a result of all the neglect the child received from when he was a small boy up till this present time. His parents thought money is everything. All a child needs is attention and love and he did not get that. Thats is why he resorted to doing what he did to draw attention to himself

Obinoscopy:

I agree with you 100%. What happened on the plane was as a result of all the neglect the child received from when he was a small boy up till this present time. His parents thought money is everything. All a child needs is attention and love and he did not get that. Thats is why he resorted to doing what he did to draw attention to himself

Jeez, one would actually think you grew up in the Mutallab household, making conclusive statements as such. Since this is africa i will give you a very appropriate african quote

Alagemo ti bi omo e na, ai mo jo ku si owo omo alagemo. loosely translated means the masquerade father has born his son, not knowing how to is left to the kid.

How can a man at 23 be refered to as a kid, as if he lacks the acumen to determine between right and wrong?!!! Leave the family out of this. The balme is squarely on this kid's shoulders. I have known people who suffered depression and fought it. It is a personal battle, and i think him quite lazy and dumb not to task his mental self in picking thew right choice.

slimshay:

Jeez, one would actually think you grew up in the Mutallab household, making conclusive statements as such.

The info I gave was not from me, it was after some research by an american group of journalist, they discovered he used to air his views in a blog site similar to this nairaland. In the site he complained about the lack of understanding between him and his parents. He also talked about his fears and how he feels dejected and lonely without any friends. They even discovered he is a Liverpool fan and a hater of Arsenal!. . . I mean no disrespect to Liverpool fans

slimshay:

How can a man at 23 be refered to as a kid, as if he lacks the acumen to determine between right and wrong?!!! Leave the family out of this. The balme is squarely on this kid's shoulders. I have known people who suffered depression and fought it. It is a personal battle, and i think him quite lazy and dumb not to task his mental self in picking thew right choice.

I am not saying that he is still a kid all I am saying is that he is suffering from all the accumulated neglect he got when he was a kid. And talking about depression, I bet you've only seen a mild form of it. Some people suffer from a worse form of it, and do you know whats so bad about it? The person wont even know that he is suffering from it!

Chikit,

The families lost contact with him in October of ’08.

Please see below,

Umar Farouk won a place at University College London to study mechanical engineering and stayed there for three years from 2005, and got his Bachelor's degree in engineering at the University of London In 2008. He was given a four-year multiple-entry visa to the United States by the American Consulate in London. He visited Houston for 11 days that August.

The rift with his family worsened because of his “extreme views about religion”, according to a brother quoted by the Nigerian newspaper This Day. He told his family that he wanted to go to an Arab country to learn Arabic.

For a while he was in Egypt, but his family encouraged him to take a postgraduate degree in business studies in Dubai. They hoped that the cosmopolitan atmosphere would prevent him from becoming even more extreme. The family arranged for him to travel to Dubai where he gained admission to study for a Master's degree.
After four months into the course, he abandoned the United Arab Emirates, saying that he had found an alternative course in Yemen that would take seven years to complete. When his mother asked him to reconsider, he told her to “stay away because he had found a new life and was breaking all family ties”.

“We know Farouk’s extreme views and were always apprehensive of where it may lead him to,” the unidentified brother said. “He has maintained his distance from us and we never bothered him much. He always wanted to be left alone, so we respect his wishes.” The brother said that the bomb suspect was “quiet, nice and gentle” and “morally upright”.

British authorities refused him a visa in May 2009 because they suspected that he was trying to attend a bogus college course. Soon afterwards his father became so concerned with his extremist views that he alerted the US Embassy in Nigeria, Nigerian security and the Saudis. The family last had contact with Umar Farouk in October when he was in Yemen.

Two recent important family gatherings where Umar Farouk was absent buttressed the family's explanation that the young man had indeed abandoned the family - his brother, Abdul's wedding to Assya Alao at Ibadan in October and, his father's 70th birthday in Abuja. Umar Farouk was conspicuously absent. It is clear that young Umar Farouk had chosen his own path. Besides all the steps he took, it is difficult to see what else his father could have done. I agree with this statement here!

Some argue that he (Mr. Umaru Muttalab) failed in his parental duty and did not bring up his child properly. In his defense, I think we “as people” know that it takes by the grace of God for some kids to come out right.

It was unclear where Mr. Abdulmutallab had been residing when, in November, his father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, was reported to have alerted the American embassy in Abuja that he was deeply concerned that his son had been "radicalized" while abroad.

And then the Christmas day incident took place, I’m so glad our almighty God intervened!!

this is just a result of over comfortability!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is as a result of over comfortability!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Dr Aliyu Tilde



The Tragedy of Umar F. Mutallab



The first involvement of a Nigerian in terrorism has reduced the nation to the status of a child. Immediately the chap was identified as a Nigerian, we were all on our knees begging America, doing our best to convince it that we are not terrorists: "Wallahi, this boy is a black sheep. We are law abiding citizens wherever we go overseas. Yes. At home, we are known for fraud, election rigging, corruption, armed robbery, bank robbery, cultism, human trafficking, religious intolerance, concealment of truth to our citizens, we tell them lies and even engage in forgery at high places. Eh. We have also been pushing cocaine for over two decades now. But Wallahi – America – we are not terrorists. It is not in our character… Do anything with Umar Mutallab. The boy deserves it. We completely dissociate ourselves from him…. Chinekeeeee!!! This boy has shamed us. He wants to put us in trouble."

It is true. We are not lying. We are not terrorists. If we were, we would have blown off our leaders first before any other person and effectively rid the country of corruption. However, courtesy of our inherent African docility, the people whose actions have caused so much misery on our land are walking about Scot-free. They would not do so if we had sufficient thymotic potential to blow their planes or shoot them down at gatherings. They would not have had the temerity to rig our elections or the guts to steal our wealth.

Yet, it appears that America is not convinced by the confession chorus voice of Nigerian officials, non-governmental organizations, religious and secular, at home and overseas. Nigeria produced maitatsine and, recently, boko haram in addition to a whole catalogue of transnational criminal activities. By now, the world has concluded that every Nigerian is either a fanatic or a fraudster, unless he is proved innocent. This is a golden opportunity to impose some severe security measures against these fraudulent people, America insists.

The first step has been announced within a week of the event: body scanners will be installed in all our four international airports such that a record of the anatomy of every Nigerian traveler will be documented. Fingerprints are not sufficient. "Would these scanners show the naked bodies of people?" a foreign journalist asked a Nigerian official, three times. And three times he evaded the question: "It is just in case the passenger is carrying something on his body, the machine will detect it." I laughed. The truth is that the scanners would show your naked natural body, including everything. I had that experience with a similar equipment at Heathrow Airport in December 2004 when I was singled out, for no stated reason, and scanned before I boarded a British Airways flight back to Nigeria. To assuage my feelings, the official showed me the picture and said they were just testing the equipment. Behold, there was Tilde, ad naturalis. I did not protest, lest some cocaine is planted in my luggage. My destination, I reminded myself, was Abuja, not prison in the distant land of homo leucodermaticus. Scanning our bodies may not be the only measure, I suspect. Nigerians must be prepared for more.

But why are we jittery about this singular act, heinous as it is? Are we the first terrorist country in the world? Did we produce Carlos – The Jackal, Al-Nagrahi, IRA, Timothy McVeigh, or the 911 bombers? Are we worse terrorists than Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, or Libya, countries where many terrorists lived and carried out their threats? Are we worse than Saudi Arabia, the country that produced Osama Bin Laden and 18 out of the 19 terrorists that bombed the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001? Why have we not heard the officials and citizens of these countries pleading against any possible collective victimization by America? Why are scanners not installed at Jeddah and Riyadh International Airports? Instead, we saw Obama paying a visit to King Abdullah and bowing his head to the King in respect, as he bowed before Queen Elizabeth III during the G20 meeting last year. I doubt very much if the Arabs will allow their privacy be so encroached on - down to the anatomical level - on their own land.

I think something is wrong with us and our leadership. Would this be how we will respond when one day we find ourselves in conflict with America? I believe General Victor Malu will not be surprised, having lost his job simply by refusing to "co-operate" with the military experts who America sent during his tenure as Chief of Army Staff. Malu did not know that our Nigerianness exists only at the mercy of the only superpower in the world today. Obasanjo proved him wrong. "Hey boy," Obasanjo told Malu, "When America says 'jump', simply ask: 'how high?" Commot jare. The munci man has since been enjoying his pounded yam in his native Benue. Literally speaking, the Defence Towers in Abuja are not for his kind.

On contemplation, I think the real reason why we elite are afraid of our newly acquired feather is because of the inconvenience that we will suffer from whenever we visit overseas or the opportunities we will miss in our hideout countries where we send our children to study after celebrating the collapse of our public schools at home; where we take our wives for delivery after we have allowed our hospitals to deteriorate; where we hide the billions we steal daily from public coffers; where some of us think is the Promised Land. Think about it: what restrictive measure would the average Nigerian, who will never have the opportunity to board even a domestic flight be afraid of? Will the airport scanners scan him on his farm? Indeed, we are crying for ourselves, for our interests, not for Nigeria.

Here, I have much to doubt about the sincerity of Umar's father, Alhaji Mutallab. I initially thought that he has been very heroic in alerting the Nigerian and American security officials about the indoctrination of his son. He must be one of the most patriotic citizens of the world, I thought. But in fairness to the son, I now think differently. I was only naïve. The father must own up and accept that he exposed the son to the risk of indoctrination. He knows his son better than anyone. He should. At what point did he start to notice the defiance of his son and what did he do about it?

This chap has been complaining of loneliness since when the father isolated him from this country and sent him to a British elite secondary school in Togo. Doesn't his life in that school initiate his anti-white racist doctrines before he even met with terrorist groups later in the United Kingdom? Why did not the father return him to Nigeria and enroll him in one of our best secondary schools or private universities. Why was Umar ignored by his father until he became a prey of the vicious elements that exploited his racist sentiments?

Also, would the poor and lonely Umar have been conscripted into international terrorism if his father were poor? Would he have been to Togo or Britain? International terrorism, as I said in an interview with Radio Deutche Welle, is a product of affluence, not religion. The overwhelming majority of terrorists – from Bin Laden down to their latest flag bearer, Umar Mutallab – are people from affluent backgrounds, homes that have links with the West and have firm roots in its economic order.

Umar's father did not get this calculation wrong. By alerting the police, he has secured his wealth but not his son. He has conveniently surrendered the son, against the biological instinct of protection, to the FBI, in protection of his economic interests, most likely, instead of taking all necessary measures to restrict him to this country, getting the authorities to seize his passport and sponsor a program of his de-indoctrination. After all, the father is well aware of the Hausa adage that says ba gagararre sai bararre – there is no outlaw except the condoned. The father cannot, therefore, claim that he was taken by surprise because he was rich enough, pretty rich, to buy multimillion pound mansion for the family in London where the son lived. He was not living on campus. Someone here – the father – does not do his duty well. He should own up.

The second blame should be dumped at the doorstep of American counter-terrorism officials. Obama has every right to look at them straight in the eye and tell them that they have not done their job well. There was a report indicating that al-Qaida is training a Nigerian for a terror attack on an American Airline. Then there is a Nigerian father who complained of the indoctrination of his son and the son has already been placed on America's Terrorist Watch list. Would it be clear even to the most incompetent agent that Umar was the most likely person? How many Nigerians are there on the list after all?

Umar's ordeal should serve as a wakeup call to all Nigerian parents who send their children overseas for studies. I know it is inevitable in many cases given the failure of our educational system here at home. But each of them can, and should, do something to salvage it, in his own way. I believe Alhaji Mutallab must be regretting this way: "Had I known, I would have built a model secondary school and a even a private university in my hometown Funtua where Umar and other Nigerian children would study without being exposed to indoctrination by people alien to our culture… A good secondary school would not cost half the price of one of my houses in London… Had I known…"

The whole idea of sending children to study abroad must be done only out of necessity, as Dr. Yusuf Qardawi once said. Where necessary, they must not be sent until, among other conditions, they have acquired the cognitive maturity that will protect them from indoctrination.

Please let those of us who have children studying overseas keep an eye over them. Terrorism is not the only thing we need to guard them against. There are just plenty other negative tendencies that they must not be allowed to indulge in. We must ensure we engage them constantly such that we can understand the cognitive developments they are going through. We must not, even for a day, fail to listen to them or attend to their needs especially for company. And we can do this today so easily through modern communications facilities. It is our duty. We must not delegate it to school authorities.

Umar had access to wealth but it did not buy him the protection he needed as a teenager. Poor Umar! Surely, he has been a victim of three people: an incapable father, a vicious group of terrorists, and incompetent and negligent American security agencies. He could have been saved the doom of becoming a criminal of this order. This beautiful looking son of Africa was, therefore, a prey. His story is a tragedy. He set out looking for knowledge but would end up serving a twenty year prison term. I pray that by the time he comes out – for he will still come out pretty young, 43 – he would have contemplated enough to purge himself of the indoctrination he went though. He would then return to African and reside among us quietly, enjoying the docility that is typical of our passive continent, or suffering the consequences of its lack of thymos.



Bauchi, Nigeria

1 January 2007

'Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams and clerics of  Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the infidels of the world and, that by killing an infidel, (which is a command to all Muslims) they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case, can you give me the definition of an infidel?'  There was no disagreement with my statements and, without hesitation, he replied, 'Non-believers! '  I responded, 'So, let me make
sure I have this straight. All followers of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they can have a place in heaven. Is that correct?'
The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command to that of a little boy who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.' He sheepishly replied, 'Yes.'  I then stated, 'Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine Pope John Paul commanding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Dr. Stanley ordering all Protestants
to do the same in order to guarantee them a place in heaven! 'The Imam was speechless!
I continued, 'I also have a problem with being your friend when you and your brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me! Let me ask you a question: Would you  rather have your Allah, who tells you to kill me in order for you to go to heaven, or my Jesus who tells me to love you because I am going to heaven and He wants you to be there with me?'
You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame. Needless to say, the organizers and/or promoters of the Diversification training seminar were not happy with my way of dealing with the Islamic Imam, and exposing the truth about the Muslims' beliefs. In twenty years there will be enough Muslim voters in Canada to elect the Prime Minister!  I think everyone in Canada should be required to read this.       
There is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us send it on!
The man who walks with God always gets to his destination.
If you have a pulse you have a purpose. This is your chance to make a difference.

@ Poster;
Reading stuff like this makes me half sad and half angry, why? i guess this makes you smart then? Passing on "The message" eh
To me, this is a little more than an attack on Billions of people.

I am no cleric, but i ll say that Islam is a complex religion, it sure as hell is harder than most other religions out there, or does anyone here follow "Holy Books" written Hundreds of years ago to the letter in this day and age

Peter Enahoro once wrote "The Good have names, the Bad have Families" and i'm appalled at your point of view; i guess that the Imam was unable to answer your question but any really curious person should have sought answers elsewhere, because while you may be smart, do you think you are smarter than all of the 1.5 billion people worldwide that are muslims? you think that you wouldnt get at least one reasonable reply to your questions

You must understand that we re no longer in the age of religious wars and conquests, and so therefore we must somehow modernize religion to fit our present needs, Do y'all follow the old testament to the letter Majority of Muslims are quite moderate in their views and would never consider or condone killing hundreds of people in the name of "Jihad" by blowing up a plane full of innocent people.

So i'm gonna ask you and everyone else that thinks like you, to PLEASE stop and reconsider, i accept that that is your opinion and everyone is entitled to one, but i'm sure you can do better, the only way this sort of thing will stop is we all learn to Live with each other in peace, with the rate at which Islam is growing in Canada, who knows what will happen in the not so far future

If you have a pulse, Find a better purpose . . .