FEATURE-Nigeria bomber's home town blames foreign schooling

Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:20pm GMT

[-] Text [+]

* Wealthy banker's son educated abroad

* Locals say that radicalised alleged would-be bomber

* Nigerian Islam predominantly moderate

By Sahabi Yahaya

FUNTUA, Nigeria, Dec 27 (Reuters) - For residents in his home town, it was Umar Abdulmutallab's foreign education, not his roots in Muslim northern Nigeria, that radicalised him and led him to try to blow up a U.S. passenger plane.

The 23-year-old London-educated Nigerian was charged on Saturday in the United States with trying to blow up Northwest Airlines flight 253 as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day with almost 300 people on board. [ID:nN26132671]

The son of a highly respected banker, Abdulmutallab's actions shocked Nigeria's wealthy elite and residents in his family's predominantly Muslim northern hometown of Funtua.

"Everyone knew the Mutallabs and the father is honest, generous, helpful and above all a prominent banker. I cannot see why his son should be involved in this act," Funtua resident Ibrahim Bello, 65, said, close to the Mutallab family home. Continued...

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