Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and the real truth about Nigeria’s Cowardly attitude to dying….

It’s been 4 days since I last spent over 10 minutes on the internet. I have travelled to Europe to have a damn good rest and that included avoiding   Facebook, Twitter and JSD. I just wanted to stay away not until the damning news of the Nigerian Bomber my abstinence to an end.

I will be very honest with you, you know Ni-geria and Al-geria sounds somehow alike. I honestly thought the news report was referring to an Algerian rather than Nigerian citizen.

Hey guys, before I am crucified here and believe me, all Algerians and friends of Algeria, hear me out or rather read me out here, Nigerians, to be SUICIDE BOMBERS? That is a joke!

In Nigeria, a majority would just not take you seriously. Why? Because we love life too much. And I mean too much.

There is no Nigerian that wants to die. No Nigerian wants to die for anything. Well, I hasten to add “sensible” Nigerian, because we do have some unserious ones that are fed- up of life and take up a doctrine that requires them to give up life in a violent manner in exchange for sainthood. Can you just imagine that?

“Dying for a cause?”

But seriously, an average Nigerian would never, ever contemplate dying for a cause. If at all there are any, and yes, they are – Nigerian Environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa readily comes to mind,  they are very few indeed. This is a fact.

Look at the country for crying out loud. It is in a dire state.  An immediate solution would be for nutters such as suicide bombers to declare their love to die for Nigeria. But what do you get? Politicians,  born and yet to be born killing each other to get their hands on the wealth of the nation. Now if you get to hear anyone has died in this struggle, it is definitely not for Nigeria. You can be assured of that.

An average Nigerian, as concerned as he or she is, would rather engage in 419 scams or any dishonest means as opposed to working very hard, even though we do have a lot and I mean a lot of hard working Nigerians struggling to make an honest living.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

So Ladies and Gentlemen of the world, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab may be a Nigerian, but he does not and will not define who a Nigerian is. No way does he define me.

“Salt to Injury”

To add “salt to injury” as Nigerians love to express, painful as you may come to expect, we, as a nation love to do things differently.

Umar, the son of retired Chairman of First Bank PLC, Nigeria, had done everything a father could do. Good schools (which included University College London – UCL), good accommodation (posh home in west London) and opportunities to further his education anywhere in the world. What else can a father do for a child?

What Umaru, a 23 year old grown up chose to do was to cut off links from his parents to further his education in Yemen. His parents were so concerned that they notified the authorities.the father approached the US and Nigerian authorities to warn them about his son’s views six months before the alleged attempt to destroy the flight to Detroit. Apparently, he was radicalised while studying at the British School in Lome (BSL), Togo.

According to reports from Timesonline, for the past two years Abdulmutallab has been on a United States watchlist for people known to have extremist links, but he was not prevented from flying to America. UK officials indicated that he had passed across MI5’s radar but was not deemed sufficiently threatening to warrant surveillance. Also the BBC reported that Umaru had appeared under the US terrorism database.

“Enough Info to Prevent Attempt”

So both the British and American security authorities had enough on this young man from a privileged background who is obviously game for an act of dangerous adventure, and they did not do anything about it?

The father, yes the father of this misguided terror-seeker sought help and nothing was done. Where did the slip come from?

At least the British barred him from the United Kingdom, although from an entirely different reason – application to an unrecognised school, a bogus college, to further his education. But the Americans who were lucky to have had a blood bath averted ought to shoulder the blame.

Yes, we all know he began his journey in Nigeria and then changed planes in Amsterdam en-route Detroit, in America. So the security checks at both Airports leaves a lot to be confident about, however, with all the information on him, this young confused terror-seeker has no business being at any airport, local or international for that matter. But thank God, although he may have attempted to ignite an explosive device on a Delta Detroit bound plane on Christmas Day after shouting about Afghanistan. Apparently, undetected, bomb materials had been sewn into his underwear, an authoritative American report said.

So who is to blame?

I sure hope the Americans will not begin to go overboard with their security measures when it comes to relating with Nigerians. The same message goes to the Brits and all other officials across the globe.

“Nigerians and Death”

Believe me; Nigerians are too cowardly to be terrorists. Our attitude to death is simple; let it be as natural as possible, preferably in bed, sleeping in total oblivion, after a good night out at a party.

“Maryam Babangida is dead”

Maryam Babaginda

I only got to know today that former 1^st lady, Maryam Babangida died on Sunday, aged 61 from Ovarian Cancer.

Maryam, who glamorised her role as the 1^st lady of Nigeria, married to the then head of state General Ibrahim Babangida, lived a good life.

I believe her legacy would be the role she played for the rural women through her programme dubbed  “Better Life for Rural Women” which she launched in 1987 for the purpose of achieving gender equity with special focus on rural women.

Gladly, unlike many NGOs of today (charity organisations ) ,the programme was said to have had a direct bearing on the lives of rural women which were described as the most sidelined, poorest and therefore the most vulnerable in the nation. May her Soul Rest in Peace.

Tagged: Abdul, Better Life for Rural Women, BSL, Detroit, Farook, Farouk, First bank, General Ibrahim Babangida, IBB, Jide Salu, Maryam babangida, Mutallab, Nigeria, Nigeria and terrorism, Ovarian Cancer, SUICIDE BOMBERS, Togo, UCL, Umar, umar farouk abdul mutallab, Umar Farouk Abdulmutal

Posted in: Personal Thoughts