The Story of Umar Abdulmutallab, The Nigerian Jihad Terrorist Who Almost Blew Up An American Plane.
Back in 2009, home-based terrorism was still a figment of the imagination of many Nigerians.
Groups like Boko Haram, ISWAP, killer herdsmen, and marauding bandits were still in the shadows. However, although these terrorist groups had not spread their wings during this period, there was some very serious undercover radicalization going on behind the scenes.
The biggest evidence of this fact has to be Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, also referred to as the Underwear bomber or Christmas bomber. On December 25, 2009, the radical young man hid explosives in his underwear and attempted to blow up an airplane going from Amsterdam to Detroit.
Thank goodness his plan was foiled.
Before this incident, US Intelligence revealed that al-Awlaki, an Al-Qeada terrorist who he had promised to help support his jihad. Before we delve further into this terrorist incident, let’s take a brief look at the life of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab so we can understand what exactly inspired him to become a jihadist and start collaborating with terrorists.
BRIEF LIFE STORY OF UMAR FAROUK ABDULMUTALLAB AND HOW HE GOT RADICALISED
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is the last born of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a very wealthy Nigerian banker among 16 children. He was conceived by his second wife. Alhaji Umaru Mutallab was described by The Times back in 2009 as “one of the richest men in Africa.” The father is a previous Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria and an ex-Nigerian Federal Commissioner for Economic Development.
Abdulmutallab’s family is from Funtua in Katsina State. However, he was brought up in a rich neighborhood in Kaduna State.
He got his education at Essence International School, and also attended classes at the Rabiatu Mutallib Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, which was named after his grandfather. Abdulmutallab also schooled at The British School of Lomé, Togo.
He was regarded as a very bright student and enjoyed recreational periods with the PlayStation and basketball.
One of his cousins revealed that as a teenager, he suddenly became very religious as a Muslim, and separated himself from his agemates. Abdulmutallab rebuked his father’s banking job and branded it as “immoral” and “un-Islamic” for charging interest rates and told him to quit it. “That kind of detachment from others and singular focus on Islam was a common thread in Mr. Abdulmutallab’s life, according to family members, friends, and classmates.”
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Take a look at some of the messages he posted on Facebook that confirmed he was slowly becoming radicalized:
“As I get lonely, the natural s3xual drive awakens and I struggle to control it, sometimes leading to minor sinful activities like not lowering the gaze [in the presence of unveiled women]. And this problem makes me want to get married to avoid getting aroused.”
Another one:
“The hair of a woman can easily arouse a man. The Prophet advised young men to fast if they can’t get married but it has not been helping me much and I seriously don’t want to wait for years before I get married. But I am only 18 … It would be difficult for me to get married due to social norms of getting to the late 20s when one has a degree, a job, a house, etc before getting married. So usually my fa[n]tasies are about islamic stuff. The bad part of it is sometimes the fantasies are a bit worldly rather than concentrating in the hereafter.”
HOW ABDULMUTALLAB GOT INTO CONTACT WITH TERRORISTS
It was reported that Abdulmutallab regularly had conversations with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American Yemeni Islamic teacher and spiritual leader who had been previously believed to be a top al-Qaeda recruiter.
Al-Awlaki, who was assassinated by an American drone in Yemen in September 2011, was formerly an imam in the United States. He was very close to three of the 9/11 terrorists, who prayed at his mosque; the 2005 London Bombings; a 2006 Toronto terror cell; a 2007 Fort Dix attack attempt; and the 2009 Fort Hood shooter.
Al-Awlaki had a Facebook page and was referred to as the “bin Laden of the internet.” Because he could speak English proficiently, he had used the internet to spread his message very far and wide.
WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED ON THE DAY OF THE INCIDENT?
On 25 December 2009, Abdulmutallab flew from Ghana to Amsterdam, where he got on a Northwest Airlines Flight 253 headed for Detroit, Michigan. He had on him a Nigerian passport and legitimate U.S. tourist visa, and he bought his ticket with currency notes in Ghana on December 16.
Kurt and Lori Haskell, both passengers on the flight revealed that before getting unto the plane they saw a “smartly dressed man”, around 50 years old, who spoke “in an American accent similar to my own” assisting a passenger they identified as Abdulmutallab onto the plane without a passport.
Abdulmutallab stayed in the toilet for about 20 minutes as the flight was almost at Detroit and then wrapped himself with a blanket after returning to his seat. Fellow passengers then overheard popping sounds, inhaled a bad odour, and some witnessed the leg of Abdulmutallab’s trouser and the wall of the plane in flames. Another passenger, Jasper Schuringa jumped on Abdulmutallab and held him down as flight attendants used fire extinguishers to quench the fire.
Abdulmutallab was then taken to the front of the aircraft cabin, and was spotted to have lost his trousers as a result of the flames, and had burns on his legs. When quizzed by a flight attendant about what he had in his pocket, he replied: “Explosive device.”
He was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers after this crime and handed over to the FBI for subsequent investigations. Abdulmutallab told security officials he had been led by al-Qaeda, and that he had got the explosive in Yemen.
LONG TERM IMPLICATIONS OF THIS TERRORIST INCIDENT FOR NIGERIA AND THE WORLD AT LARGE
48 hours after this incident, Abdulmutallab was released from a hospital where he had been treated for first and second degree burns to his hands, and second degree burns to his right inner thigh which was inflicted during the attempted bombing.
He was then detained at the Federal Correctional Institution, Milan, a federal prison in Michigan, where he remained during court proceedings.
New restrictions were then set on U.S. travelers, but the government did not make many of them public because security officials reportedly “wanted the security experience to be ‘unpredictable'”.
One day after she said that the system had worked, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security revealed that the aviation security system had rather failed.
Former American President Barack Obama promised the federal government would track down all those behind the attack, and any further attack being plotted against America. He also ordered a review of detection and watch list procedures. Saying that “totally unacceptable” systemic and human failures had happened.
Not long after this incident, Secretary-General of Nigeria’s Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Lateef Adegbite condemned the attack and stated: “We are embarrassed by this incident and we strongly condemn the alleged action by this young man. We do not think that there is any organised Islamic group in Nigeria that is inclined to such a criminal and violent act. We condemn such an extreme viewpoint and action.”
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