FARUK UMARU MUTALLAB

For whatever it is worth, that is no small tribute to the country’s badly battered international image. Believe me, If Faruk Umaru Mutallab, who is being accused of attempting to blow up an American passenger aircraft  on Christmas day were Egyptian; or Syrian; or Jordanian, the rest of the world would simply have shrugged its […]

For whatever it is worth, that is no small tribute to the country’s badly battered international image. Believe me, If Faruk Umaru Mutallab, who is being accused of attempting to blow up an American passenger aircraft  on Christmas day were Egyptian; or Syrian; or Jordanian, the rest of the world would simply have shrugged its shoulders and move on. If we didn’t know it before, we should now take special notice: that terrible and bloody as our regular religious and other sectarian crisis have been, our ability to keep them within our borders is a palliative. And it would definitely make the search for solutions much easier when, and if, we decide to honestly and seriously tackle the problem.

Technically, Faruk is still innocent, but because of the weight of evidence from his actions, most of us have already convicted, and even sentenced him in our various ways. That is understandable; after all the American officials interrogating him reported that “He is singing like a bird”. The Nigerian government and public commentators have also been singing; and the picture that is emerging, though illuminating, still falls short of explaining what could have pushed Faruk to do what he is being accused of.

Politically the government and most of the commentators have been saying what is definitely indisputable; which is that although Faruk is a Nigerian, his action is not. Not only because his action represents the first of its kind from the part of the country where he came from, but because in Northern Nigeria, which is where Faruk received his earliest socialization, violence is usually a reaction , rather than a premeditated behavioral tendency. From 1987 when the first serious religious violence broke out in the North, to the Boko Haram violence that happened a few months ago in the north eastern part of the country, there has always been a pattern: it has always been a reaction to some government or social policies or conduct that one group found offensive to its spiritual values. But cold-blooded, premeditated ideology-based mass murders, from any religious group in the country are very rare.

That is why the claim by government and some commentators that Faruk is a creation of an international hate group which preaches and practices evil is dead on target. Faruk became an “International student” at the age of 13 years when he was enrolled by his parents into an exclusive British school in Togo; and for the next 10 years he was attending higher schools either in England or the Middle East, only occasionally coming home to Nigeria for holidays. His last known destination before he embarked on his deadly mission was Yemen, which is the newest hub of international terrorism.

So a Northern Nigerian Muslim Faruk certainly is; and his worldview up to the age of 13 was shaped by that society, which is on average more conservative than any other part of the country; but thereafter the world took over his education. Between England and Dubai Faruk received his evil baptism into the irrational deadly doctrine of mass murder for the sake of a cause that is as anti Islam as it is anti anything rational. Somewhere between London, Dubai and Yemen Faruk was recruited, indoctrinated, trained and supplied with his deadly arsenal for blowing up that Detroit-bound Delta Airline plane carrying over 200 passengers that included children and possibly several Muslims whose cause Faruk thought he was championing.

And to drive home this point there was the very critical initiative which Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, his father, took two months before Faruk finally snapped. Mutallab was said to have informed both the Nigerian security agencies and the United States’ CIA that he feared that his son was being radicalized by international terrorism. In that respect he had lived up to his reputation as one of the greatest bankers in the country. He’d foreseen a risk and he’d taken the logical step to forestall its consequences.

Unfortunately, Mutallab, the Muslim world and the world at large was let down by both the Nigerian security forces—as usual—and the world-famous American CIA. Under the circumstances one may even argue validly that Mutallab has sufficient ground to sue those two agencies for negligence. As the dust settles and time reduces the pain of his grief, perhaps that is an option he should consider if only to draw attention to two issues: One, that Faruk’s parents, his religion and the society from which he came do not share the evil he picked up abroad.

Secondly by putting the American security system on the defensive, he could also succeed in drawing public sympathy to himself and the rest of his family. This is important because public opinion plays a very important role in the administration of justice in the USA. As of now there is no report that any parent of the hundreds of terrorists that have either been killed or arrested ever taking similar initiative like Mutallab’s. It should count for something with the American legal system. Some commentators have also used the Faruk tragedy to unleash flak on wealthy parents who take their children abroad. I think this is less an individual issue than the overall consequence of the failure of governance that our country has been experiencing over the years. Even some of those who criticize this tendency would readily take that option if they can afford it; besides if merely sending a child to study abroad makes a terrorist out him, then South West Nigeria which is predominantly Muslim and has the highest number of Nigerians in Diaspora would have been full of terrorists by now.

If Mutallab missed anything at all, it is not in sending his child to school abroad—this has been going on even when our schools were competitive—it was probably during the critical age of between one and ten years; parents must pay particular attention to that period as anything internalized in the brain around that age tend to have a near-permanent influence on the overall outlook of the child as he or she grows up. In this, one does not need a child psychologist to appreciate this, we only need to reflect over the things that have shaped our own lives and remember at what age we picked them up, then we will know precisely when our children are open to our influences, and when they are more susceptible to other external environmental factors.

One last thing. I was amused by the mild disagreement between Mahmud Jega (Monday column) and Sanusi Abubakar (Tuesday  column) both of the Daily Trust. Jega had written a piece last Monday entitled “Who owns this Taliban?” Jega’s argument was simply that Faruk was corrupted outside Nigeria (and therefore the blame for his actions and the search for his motive should be concentrated elsewhere). Sanusi obviously misunderstood that to mean Jega disowned Faruk. I think we should give Jega more credit than that improbable submission. Sanusi erred on the side of self-criticism which is okay, but he is the one who needs to be moderate here. We own Faruk, every biological cell of him; but  we did not create, and do not own, the Taliban in him.

 AIRPORT SECURITY

Two days ago I listened to the boss of the Federal Airport Authority, Mr. Demueren or something telling a group of journalists that there will henceforth be increased security checks at our airports; this will involve full body scan etc. I really feel this man should be sacked because he was speaking absolute rubbish. Who is going to do the scan etc, where is the equipment to do it? Where was he when newspapers reported a few weeks ago that as a result of radar failure at the MMA Ikeja several airplanes were stranded in the air and it was only by the special Grace of God that tragedy was averted? Does he know that Nigeria is the only country in the world where passengers pay for trolley? Is he aware that by our financial standard we have one of the ugliest, most ill-equipped airports in the world? Who is he kidding; just because Amsterdam and the US say they would improve security and he goes on air aping them. He should please shut up and continue to wallow in his incompetence; when the time for doing things right arrives people like him must give way, willingly or unwillingly.