Article curled from Sunday Daily Trust:
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has invited Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, the father of Nigerian Christmas Day would-be bomber Faruk Umar Abdulmutallib, to appear before it on January 20, a highly -placed diplomatic source told Sunday Trust yesterday.
Mutallab’s invitation was conveyed through a letter dated January 7, 2010 and signed by the Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator John F. Kerry, was addressed to the Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Babagana Wakil.

The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is one of the most influential committees in the United States legislature. It shapes and checkmates the country’s foreign policies and programmes. Its current chairman Senator Kerry, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, has been a key player in the country’s foreign affairs relations. He is the author of The New War, an in-depth study of America’s national security in the 21st Century, years before September 11, 2001 terror attack.

Alhaji Mutallab had earlier intimated the US security agencies about his son’s weird behaviour. In the only press statement released by the family since this incident took place, he said, “prior to this incident, his father, having become concerned about his disappearance and stoppage of communication while schooling abroad, reported the matter to the Nigerian security agencies about two months ago, and to some foreign security agencies about a month and a half ago, then sought their assistance to find and return him home.”Cont’d from page 1


The family added that “we provided them with all the information required of us to enable them to this. We were hopeful that they would find and return him home. It was while we were waiting for the outcome of their investigation that we arose to the shocking news of that day.”

“The family will continue to fully cooperate with local and international security agencies towards the investigation of this matter, while we await results of the full investigations,” the statement said.

The US Senate’s invitation letter reads that “The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations would like to extend an invitation to Mr Faruk Abdulmutallib, former Chief Executive Officer of the First Bank of Nigeria, to testify before the Committee on the morning of January 20, 2010.”

The Committee praised the terror suspect father, saying “Mr Abdulmutallib acted in a heroic fashion by alerting US authorities to his concerns about his son’s whereabouts and activities by seeking to disrupt what he believed could have been a dangerous situation. We would like to afford him the opportunity to discuss his experience with his son and to provide his recommendations on the process by which he worked with US authorities.

“I would like also to note that Mr Abdulmutallib’s appearance would allow him to correct the negative press to which Nigeria has been unfairly subjected over the past two weeks.

“The Committee is happy to pay for Mr Abdulmutallib’s travel to the United States, hotel accommodations in Washington, and return to Nigeria. A Committee staff member, Mr John Kiriakou, can make Mr Abdulmutallib’s arrangements,” the letter said.