Blog

LAGOS – Nigeria’s Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, standing trial for attempted bombing of an American airline on Christmas day in 2009 had considered launching the strike in the skies above Houston or Chicago but he could not afford the flight tickets to these cities. He therefore refocussed the mission on a cheaper destination: Detroit, United States, current and former counter-terrorism officials have said.

The report showed that Yemen’s branch of Al-Qaida does not strike at symbolic places but any place of opportunity.

There had been questions on why Abdulmutallab chose to bomb Detroit. Abdulmutallab considered Houston, where he attended an Islamic conference in 2008, current and former counter-terrorism officials told the AP. Another person with knowledge of the case said Abdulmutallab also considered Chicago but was discouraged by the cost. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the case.

While the target and timing were unimportant, the mission itself was a highly organised plot that involved one of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists and al-Qaida’s go-to bomb maker, current and former officials said. Before Abdulmutallab set off on his mission, he visited the home of al-Qaida manager Fahd al-Quso to discuss the plot and the workings of the bomb.

Al-Quso, 36, is one of the most senior al-Qaida leaders publicly linked to the Christmas plot. His association with al-Qaida stretches back more than a decade to his days in Afghanistan when, prosecutors said, bin Laden implored him to “eliminate the infidels from the Arabian Peninsula.”

From there he rose through the ranks. He was assigned the job in Aden to videotape the 1998 suicide bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 sailors and injured 39 others, but fell asleep. Despite the lapse, he is now a mid-level manager in the organisation. Al-Quso is from the same tribe as radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who had an operational role in the botched Christmas attack.

In December, Al-Quso was designated a global terrorist by the State Department, a possible indication that his role in al-Qaida’s Yemen franchise has grown more dangerous.

Al-Quso was indicted on 50 terrorism counts in New York for his role preparing for the Cole attack and served more than five years in prison in Yemen before he was released in 2007. On the FBI’s list, al-Quso ranks behind only bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri among the most sought-after al-Qaida terrorists.

After meeting with al-Quso, Abdulmutallab left Yemen in December 2009 and made his way to Ghana, where he paid $2,831 in cash for a round-trip ticket from Nigeria to Amsterdam to Detroit and back.

Apparently there is a JayJay Okocha biopic in the works, it will be called Feet of Destiny(no surprises there…nollywood movie…cheesy title). The movie will reportedly span the entirety of Okocha’s life, including his football career.

Emeka Ike is lined up to play the football ace….Jimmy Jean Luis (Phat Girlz) will also be appearing.

Still on the topic of biopics, there is also a DAGRIN movie in the works – which would chronicle the late rapper’s life and his tragic death at 26 in April 2010. I hope these movies are done justice, and cast properly, as they more often than not Nollywood productions turn out to be over-acted, badly directed and poorly produced.

“Nuff said

What are your thoughts?

By Tony Ubani, in South Africa

FIFA president, Sepp Blatter said at the weekend that Nigeria’s failure to make an impact at the 2010 World Cup did not surprise him.

Blatter added that Nigeria and indeed Cote’d Iovire planned for failure when they chose to make changes to the managements of their teams two month to the World Cup.

“It would have been a miracle if Nigeria and Cote’d Ivoire had gone through.

“You cannot manage a national team when you coach two or three months before the competition,” said Blatter.

Nigeria hired Lars Lagerback, but the Swede coach failed to take Nigeria out of the group prelims, despite making a promise of taking the team to the semi-final..

This result left Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan fuming and he sacked all the national teams from FIFA events. He made a u-turn, but Nigeria Football Federation president Sanni Lulu, his first vice Amanze Uchegbulam and Taiwo Ogunjobi were gone in the aftermath. The Swiss-born Blatter downplayed referees mistake at the World Cup.

“We are bound by the best referees we have,” Blatter said. “We tried to get them on top but naturally referees are human beings and they commit errors like everybody.”

Blatter said it was not possible to judge this World Cup in comparison to others, but described it as “special”.

He said: “It was a World Cup on a new continent with a new culture and therefore it must be analysed on different levels, but if you look at the enthusiasm in Africa and also the repercussion in the world, if you look to the television audiences around the world, if you look to the fan-fests everywhere in the world then I have to say it was a special World Cup.”