Nigerian parents warn children abroad: Slow down on Islamic activities for now

NIGERIANS with wards abroad, especially in the United States, US, and United Kingdom, UK, have begun taking precautionary measures in a bid to ensure that their children do not come to harm following the blacklisting of Nigeria in the wake of the attempt by Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a plane in US last Christmas day.

Sunday Vanguard investigations revealed that many parents have been issuing warnings and advice to their wards on physical appearance, association with friends and Islamic activities they engage in.

The parents, particularly Muslims, whose children are either schooling, employed or generally living abroad, by last weekend, started making frequent calls to their wards to monitor their movement and activities. The children are being advised to shave their beards, dress as cosmopolitan as possible while visits to mosques should be limited to Friday Jummat services for the time being. Though most of the parents spoke anonymously, they all seemed to share the same opinion about the unfolding development.

According to a Nigerian diplomat, “the Abdulmutallab incident is an unfortunate one which is going to affect all of us, especially tho se who travel to the US often or have people who live there.” The diplomat, a Muslim, stated, “My children have been living in the US for 20 years, but things would have to change for everybody now and this is what we have been telling the children since the incident occurred.

I consider myself as one of the lucky few whose children do not answer to Islamic names which will be one of the give-away signs of their religion. The second sign of identification being the dressing”.

He noted that prior to the failed bomb attempt by Abdulmutallab, Nigerian Muslims had never come under serious scrutiny. “Mosques belonging to the Nigerian community have always been spared such treatment given to those belonging to the Arab”, he said, adding that the privilege has been withdrawn now.

Another parent who has three children in the UK disclosed that she has advised her male children to shave their beards and dress simply so as not to attract unwarranted attention from security operatives. “Apart from the beards, I have told them not to engage in any religious discussion or argument with anyone, and to moderate their dressing.

She noted that she would be travelling to the U.K to see them as soon as possible for further discussion, pointing out that “it is no longer safe to send impressionable, young children abroad without personally monitoring their activities”.

She said though the laws and legal system in the Western countries may be better than in Nigeria, a lot of lapses are bound to take place given the tense and panic situation prevailing right now in those countries, adding, “There is no perfect system anywhere. If the US can admit administrative failures despite the warnings from Abdulmutallab’s father, then they can make mistakes too by arresting innocent people. We pray that does not happen to our children. It is not only in Nigeria that innocent people suffer injustice, it happens in these counties too and the possibility of it happening now is very high”.

Alhaja Mulikat Agbomeji, a business woman with two sons in universities in the UK, who described Nigeria’s listing among terror nations as very unfortunate, said she has increased the number of times she calls her children from weekends only to daily since the development. According to her, “many parents tend to take things for granted because once the children are abroad, we are under the impression that security wise, they are safe.

This Mutallab’s case has added another dimession to it. Unfortunately, we cannot change our religion because of what one of us has done. We cannot change our names overnight because we don’t want to be identified with a certain group. But what we can do is to stay out of trouble and don’t make ourselves targets for suspicion”.

She disclosed further, “ I have told my sons to limit their visits to the mosques to only Jummat worships and, if possible, avoid it totally for now. God will understand.” However, diplomat advised Nigerians to reason with the US government and not criticize them unnecessarily. “They have a right to do whatever the think is in the best interest of their country and people. If we take a holistic look at developments in Nigeria, from the Boko Haram to the unending chain of religious related crisis in our country, now compounded by Abdulmuttallab’s case, not forgetting the Supercreen Television bombing in Lagos which unfortunately again was perpetrated by a Muslim convert, every right thinking government will want to think twice about Nigerians, especially the Muslims, and we can’t blame them,” he said.

“What the Muslim Umah needs right now is intellectual jihad, technology jihad, academic jihad all of which have been lost and taken for granted by the Muslim Umah, not all these violence motivated by politics, economic and power games. The onus now rests squarely on the shoulders of Muslim parents to educate and guide their wards on the right path and not leave them to the whims and caprices of those who will mislead and use them in the name of religion”