₦airaland Forum

[size=14pt]The Tragedy Of Umar F. Mutallab[/size]       
By Aliyu Tilde 

Discourse 278

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. Nigeriaproduced 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 unclothed 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 unclothed 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.

[b]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. Themunci 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.[/b]

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.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/christmas-our-christmas.html

^
Where have you been? Happy New Year!

50. Construction
51. Confidence Building
52. Mind Building and Other Learning Techniques

@Tsiya
Please continue in a new post below if you have new topics to add.

38. Manufacturing
39. Novel Ways of Harnessing Local Resources
40. Desertification
41. Networking
42. Tourism Development
43. Mangrove Swamp Maintainance
44. Industries Suitable for Mangrove Swamp Areas
45. Verification and Improvement of Indigenous Medications
46. Improvement and Industrialisation of Indigenous Technologies
47. Industrial Breakthrough, Direction and Development News

4 to go

"'Sowing' Police Uniforms". . .
Has any of the uniforms grown yet?

Damn! The politicians will reap whatever they sow.

Happy New Year @Otobroto, selingel, Oboma1 (yet to enter) and Enjoyment1 (yet to step in).

This is the initial post I made at the link supplied by Kosovo above;

There is a very strong argument for the creation of a politics subsection dedicated to development.
All we ever do in the politics section is debate in reaction to events, whereas the country is begging for development and NL offers a perfect place to rub minds, plan and act. However, owing to the technical inputs that might be required, such topics as might be raised might not be palatable to the average NLer, resulting in very important issues getting swallowed up by more "popular" "tribalist" ones; take this one for example https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-374289.0.html

It is admitted that a development section might not be as popular or entertaining as other areas, but it would be frequented by practical minds and those genuinely interested in pushing our technical development forward.
The ideas and actions that would emanate from the suggested subsection would be a true gift to both the nation and NLers.

Please give thought to an area that would naturally be ethnically agnostic, positive, packed with thought provoking ideas / positions and refreshing. It is long overdue.

These are the sorts of topics that will be discussed in the proposed section (please feel free to add some more - 18 to go );

1.  Technology Access
2.  Technology Training
3.  Technology Methods
4.  Technology Knowledge Transfer
5.  Agriculture and Rural Development
6.  Water Access and Purification
7.  Macroeconomics, Microeconomics and Growth
8.  AIDS
9.  Malaria
10. Children and Youth
11. Climate Change
12. Education
13. Organisational and Management Techniques
14. Harnessing Indigenous Knowledge
15. Knowledge Partnerships
16. Energy Access and Renewables
17. Micropower generation and access
18. Environment
19. Infrastructure
20. Urban Development
21. Trade
22. Transport
23. Financial and Private Sector Development
24. Health and Nutrition
25. Millennium Development Goals
26. Poverty
27. Public Sector Governance
28. Social Development
29. Labour and Social Protection
30. Sustainable Development
31. Planning
32. Creation of Enabling Environments
33. Vocational Skills Pooling

[size=14pt]Ministers, Presidency officials’ phone lines bugged[/size]

By Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja, Published: Friday, 8 Jan 2010

There were hints in Abuja that official telephone lines of some ministers and Presidency officials were being bugged by security agents.

Our correspondent gathered in the Federal capital on Thursday that the authorities took the step to stem an alleged leakage of official and “classified and sensitive information” to the media.

A Presidency source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that members of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s inner circus were alarmed at the rate at which sensitive information on the President’s sickness was being leaked by fifth columnists in government.

One of the ministers called by our correspondent on the development declined to answer questions put across to him, but he called back, using another telephone number.

The minister said that lines of top government officials were being monitored, and that it was no longer safe for them to use the same line to grant sensitive interviews anymore.

He also said that many of his colleagues did not get to know this until they were alerted by their “loyal orderlies.”

Asked what could have been the reason for the directive, the minister replied that there was a likelihood that some people in government were not comfortable with the way the illness of the President was being discussed.

He also said that he feared that the information could be used against them during a cabinet reshuffle.

He said, “I have to inform you that the line on which you called me is being monitored by the security agents.

“It is not only me but almost all the ministers, including some top officials of the (Presidential) Villa as our lines have been bugged.

“The reason is that some people believe that we are the one leaking information about the running of the government and that we are no longer loyal to the President.

“They feel that we have shifted our loyalty because of the absence of the President. Maybe, they want to use the recorded dialogue against us, but I do not know.”

“That is why some of us have thought it wise to get another telephone line through which we can talk to people like you.”

Asked where the directive came from, he said, “It could come from some security guys who are the personal appointees of the President.”

Meanwhile, the fate of the Director-General of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency, Ambassador E. O Adedeji, is still hanging in the balance.

It was gathered that though Adedji had not replied the query allegedly issued to him by the National Security Adviser, Gen. Sarki Muktar, for his alleged failure to share information from the Mutallab family with other security agencies, he may be penalised over the matter.

A security source said, “There are strong indications that the director-general could be strongly punished if his response is not favourable.”

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20100108455064

I really admired the way Obama spoke over a period without any electronic cue's or notes, even though the topic was quites technical and covered several areas.
I couldn't help remembering Yar Adua reading out the 7 point agenda.

I guess the video would target US politics, rather than the rest of the World (Democrats vs Republicans).

Katsumoto:
How can posters be positive in one section and then be negative in another section? Whether we are willing to admit it or not, the tribalism section encourages tribal battles. Well I leave it to the judgement of others.

Also, are you suggesting that individual development be a part of this section? If so, it could easily lose focus. I think Beaf intends for this to be a section discussing developmental issues for Nigeria.

The bolded is correct (PapaBrowne hits it quite neatly below).

PapaBrowne:
I think he refers to Nigerian development. I envisage Issues on development in Economics, Science and technology, infrastructure, Agriculture, Real estate, healthcare, education and many other sectors making excellent topics.

Katsumoto:
Thats what I thought but just needed clarification. The purpose should be clear or the section can easily become a haven for people seeking business ideas or funds.

I don't think we should be too bothered about people seeking ideas, funding or funding advice, development is primarily driven by business interests in a capitalist setting. It will be impossible to avoid that, it might even be unnatural to attempt to.

@PapaBrowne Thanks for the kind words earlier.

kosovo:
@Beaf,
I have not communicated your request to the Admin, in the main time, i am thinking it through.

@zeagu Do you think so?
I will be reading the comments closely provided it doesn't get swept by other Threads,

It seems to be turning quite popular. Please give it serious thought, we want to be able to use the most popular gathering of Nigerians to move forward practically and developmentally.

ezeagu:
It shouldn't even be made a sub-section, this is the biggest thing that should be on Nigeria's plate and should be given a separate section. It would be helpful if you add a poll to see how many people support, or do not support the creation to of the section. Plus development is not always under politics.

Nice one!
Unfortunately, I can't see any poll button. Is there a special way to do this?

@Lagosboy
I know what you mean, I got my NL baptism of fire in the foreign affairs section.

@cap28

Nigeria is on the list of countries of concern. Nobody has classified us as state sponsors of terrorism.

@Gbawe
Who's credibility will you choose. Obama's or Yar Adua's (whenever we find him)?

This problem boils 100% down to our not knowing either the whereabouts or exact circumstances of our "president". Who do you want Obama to talk to in Nigeria? Ojo Madueke?

In my opinion, what we have seen from the US is not the worst we can get. Let us pray that there are sensible people to steer the ship to shore before the likes of Kala Kato finally decide to attack the US embassy (or something equally st'upid). . . Gloves will be off.
Lets cure our illness before turning cannons on the US; laughably, at present, we can't even declare war. . . No president!

See the situation for what it is, we are an ugly and fearful mess right now.

To hell with all these primitive threads!
I am sick of the low mentality Nigerians display when religion is mentioned.

Who gives a Bleep about bloody Prophet Timothy Obadare?

@Lagosboy
The US has Obama, where is our Yar Adua? When you answer to that question you will find you aren't making much sense with your tirade against the US.
We have too many questions to answer.

^
Sorry, but you are blaming the US for reacting strongly to the fact that we have no president at this time. The US has said it quite clearly and strongly that a huge factor in their reaction is that there is no voice of authority leading Nigeria. Whose fault is that?

I for one believe that we are better off allied to the West, there are others who's allegiences to Yemen and Saudi are much stronger than their allegiance even to Nigeria. That is a fact that has been evidenced in blood several times over in Northern religious riots, I will not be in a hurry to join the bandwagon of those saying we should swing our ship eastward, we have always been a non-aligned nation.

asha 80:
And the news has reached BBC 

Dis na de kain tin wen de happen wen we begin give superpowers ultimatum. These people control the press, they will begin to make us look like clowns internationally. Imagine forging a presidents signature, that is no minor allegation for any news agency in the World to publish; foreign news agencies usually stir clear off such stuff, especially when it is coming from an ally.

America doesn't have problems with Nigerians, they have made that quite clear. The issue they have is with our leadership, through Todd Moss, they have stated in black and white that all they want is a Nigerian govt that can deliver projects and cares for the people; they actually said they don't care if the govt is scheming 15% off the top of everything as long as they deliver the goods. What more does our govt want that they have to start issuing ultimatums to a superpower? Before you know it, our govt will be painted as supporting terrorism; you know what follows that. We are being really st'upid with this ultimatum thing.
I posted an article from Todd Moss here https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-376642.0.html

Afam:
Exactly! We behave as if our existence is dependent on them when we can make progress without them.

But there are wiser ways of removing ourselves from the influence of a superpower than giving them a 7 day ultimatum. What do you think their reaction is going to be? We are certainly not a Venezualla, where the vast majority of the people are united behind Chavez; we don't even know where our president is. So I will continue to say, let us move "softly, softly".

muhsin:
Is Farouk influenced in any way by anything Northern? I'll like to know.

Yes he is. When we are cured off Boko Haram, Kala Kato, Maitatsine etc, we will have no more Mutallabs.

The US is reacting to the fact that we have several religious extremist and fundamentalist groups in the North. Nothing has been done to reign them in, whereas there are several losses of life each year. To make matters worse, as soon as the Mutallab guy was caught, 70 lives were lost in Kala Kato riots, this is in addition to similar Boko Haram riots that claimed more than a thousand lives.
Added to the nastiness of the above, the country is drifting dangerously with no president in charge. To any foreign observer, our country is a tinderbox of 140 million (a fourth of Africa's population) waiting to blow up.

All the US has done is look at the situation on the ground in Nigeria, in normal circumstances, their reaction would have been either high handed or provocative; but these aren't normal times in Nigeria. We need to be able to understand the image we are projecting and react decisively to correct it; we are blind to what our body language is saying to the World; the condemnation of Mutallab was a mere whimper as compared to our reaction to US actions.
Blaming the US and even worse, threatening to break off relations will only put us in a picture we are much better off without. If we break relations with the US, the rest of the World would perceive us to have done it because we secretly support Mutallab. It is the most stu'pid thought that has come out of the country in the past few years.

Mpele:
Wat do U mean funny! Do U think I was trying to be funny!

Go back home & stop terrorising people in their own countries! U smell funny, U speak very loud, U're a typical black baboon from Nigeria.

Your people kwo very well that if one Nigerian pulls dat stunt on us, wat will happen to Nigerians and all their smelly black bros!

You sound really foolish. Like someone with an empty life who wants to fill that void with a sick obsession with Nigeria; you have psychological issues.

Please if you put that thing there, take it down. I can assure you that within a couple of days, foreign news / joke outlets will clamp unto that article; there is no pride or fun in it.

Go back to your country where Jacob Zuma is marrying his 3rd wife. The leader of your country is a man who believes that having his bath after intercourse with a HIV positive person, washes away the virus. . . And last time I looked, SA had like a third of its population contending with HIV.

Damn!

Who is funny now?

beejaei:
Beaf,

I agree with you. When I first came to nairaland, I thought I will find discussions among people with "a little insight and perspective into serious issues," but I was disappointed. Almost every thread degenarates into sex-talk, name-calling, insults, and jingoistic rantings. Therefore, people that really want to feed their mind and contribute positively in an intellectual manner to the issues that face Nigeria are always left on the sidelines, or find themselves joining the fray. I hope we can get more people to support so that Seun and Kosovo will favorably consider your request.

Exactly!
You will find that the Foreign Affairs section does not sink to the lows the main politics section does, for the simple reason (in my opinion) that its users are more specialised than the general user and "tribal" politics is just not going to cut it amongst topics on Iran, the US and other foreign lands.

While a new section will be about Nigerian projects, Nigerian comments etc they will be more about development, on practical things we can do to build our communities, on how individuals can gain confidence and help to be of positive benefit to both themselves and their communities. "Tribal" posturing will not cut it in a section defined in the above way.
I can bet that there are thousands of Nigerians who are expert beyond average in their respective fields, millions who are practical and would be quick to implement ideas that would benefit themselves.

I really hope that more people would support this.

I am wondering if this thread is secretly canvassing support for Mutallab?
The fact that the govt was unable to put together a cogent response cannot be blamed on Nigerians living in or born in the US; it is a shameful derelection of duty to say so.

That Nigerians (including those in govt) suffer from colonial mentality is nothing new and is one of our most serious problems. However, bringing that up as some sort of attack against the revulsion the man on the street feels toward the actions of Farouk Mutallab is totally out of context.

There is a very strong argument for the creation of a politics subsection dedicated to development.
All we ever do in the politics section is debate in reaction to events, whereas the country is begging for development and NL offers a perfect place to rub minds, plan and act. However, owing to the technical inputs that might be required, such topics as might be raised might not be palatable to the average NLer, resulting in very important issues getting swallowed up by more "popular" "tribalist" ones; take this one for example https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-374289.0.html

It is admitted that a development section might not be as popular or entertaining as other areas, but it would be frequented by practical minds and those genuinely interested in pushing our technical development forward.
The ideas and actions that would emanate from the suggested subsection would be a true gift to both the nation and NLers.

Please give thought to an area that would naturally be ethnically agnostic, positive, packed with thought provoking ideas / positions and refreshing. It is long overdue.

Singular:
Are you not a moderator?

He isn't moderating this section, so I think he should have every freedom.

Singular:
But I want to know why this topic became so hot with people insultin each other over gas in UK? We dont use gas in Nigeria, we dont need heating.

This is a very trivial issue, no relevance in Nigeria, why the need to descend to name calling.

Thank you my brother. But, there is a very evil undercurrent to the thread that has drawn attention.

The clown, paddy lo claims he is running for senate. I pity his state.

[quote author=paddy_lo link=topic=377105.msg5263686#msg5263686 date=1262820028]beaf dont worry when i get to the nigerian senate,i will employ u as one of my legislative aides. . .

u will be in charge of sitting your fat a*ss all day and typing about what a good job am doing on sites like nairaland

alternatively u can always hold my umbrella while i walk from the abuja sun to my office[/quote]You wish.
You will not get there for the simple reason that your foolishness will always trip you up.

4 Play:
[size=14pt]Calling Paddy Lo a retard is an insult to retards. [/size]

@Omo Ibo
Can you stop trying to save face, you have been shown up to be absolutely clueless. So that Europe depends on Russia automatically means that UK imports from Russia are anything but negligible at the moment? I suppose the UK is a synonym for Europe.

Unu go wound pesin wit laugh o!

www.nairaland.com/attachments/180447_ROTFLMAO_gif3d0c775232c7f27cf80592785b9635b6www.nairaland.com/attachments/180447_ROTFLMAO_gif3d0c775232c7f27cf80592785b9635b6