Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday noted that the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian national accused of trying to blow up a US-bound plane, should not be used as a yardstick to criminalise all Nigerians, adding that he pitied the father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab.

He made this known shortly after a service held at Chapel of Christ the Glorious King Church, situated inside the complex of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

Responding to the incident in an interview with journalists, Obasanjo said: "Well, my reaction is that he should not be used as a standard to judge Nigerians or to criminalise all Nigerians. I sympathise with his father, particularly, and his family; because I know the father very well. His father is what I will call specimen of a good man; He's a gentleman who wants the best for his children."

The former president noted that the incident should be an aberration, particularly for a larger family, explaining that hardly in a family of such size could a defiant be ruled out. Obasanjo said the incident should serve as a lesson for both parents and children.

"And this one should be an aberration. In any large family, you must have defiant children. He just turned out to be like that. With that, it's a pity and it's a good lesson for all parents and all children. If as a child you do not listen to your parents, anything can happen."

Earlier in his sermon, Obasanjo had stated that if not for God's love, Nigeria would have ceased to exist, and called on Nigerians to continue to pray for the country.Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday noted that the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian national accused of trying to blow up a

According to him, "Let 2010 be a year of fulfillment for Nigeria. We shall continue to pray for Nigeria. If not for God, Nigeria would have ceased to exist. Let us continue to pray to make the country great."

Meanwhile, British security services knew three years ago that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had "multiple communications" with Islamic extremists in Britain, a UK-based newspaper reported yesterday.

Abdulmutallab, 23, charged with trying to blow up Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam as it approached Detroit on Christmas Day, studied in London between 2005 and 2008.

U.S. President Barack Obama says an al Qaeda affiliate based in Yemen was apparently behind the attack.

The Sunday Times quoted counter-terrorism officials as saying that, during his London stay, Abdulmutallab had been "reaching out" to extremists who were under surveillance by British security service MI5.

None of the information was passed to U.S. officials, which will prompt questions about intelligence failures before the attack, the newspaper said in an article posted on its website.

It said British officials had now passed a file to their U.S. counterparts on Abdulmutallab's activities while he was a student at University College London (UCL).

The file showed his repeated contacts with MI5 targets who were subject to phone taps, e-mail intercepts and other forms of surveillance, the report said.

Obama has blamed "human and systemic failures" for allowing the botched attack, saying information available to intelligence experts should have been pieced together.

British intelligence officials had defended their decision not to flag Abdulmutallab as a possible terrorism risk, saying he was one of many youths who mixed with extremists but who were not themselves thought to be involved in plotting or supporting terrorism, the Sunday Times said.

It quoted a senior British government official as saying that the intelligence agency had conducted a quick assessment of Abdulmutallab while he was living in London and concluded he was not a threat to national security.

British officials believe Abdulmutallab was recruited to undertake the Detroit plot after he left Britain, most probably while he was in Yemen last summer, the report said.

A Home Office (interior ministry) spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the report.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday that Britain was "increasingly clear that he (Abdulmutallab) linked up with al Qaeda in Yemen after leaving London".

Britain refused Abdulmutallab a further student visa in May 2009 and put him on an immigration watch list after he applied to attend a bogus college.

Meanwhile a report suggested yesterday that Farouk may not have begun his journey in Ghana, a Ghanaian airport official said on Saturday.

He had been thought to have started his journey on Dec. 24, taking a Lagos-Amsterdam flight, but Nigeria said on Thursday he had first flown from Accra to Lagos.

"The fact that he possibly boarded a Virgin Nigeria flight from Accra to Lagos does not mean that he began his journey in Ghana as is being claimed by some officials in Nigeria," said Yaw Kwakwa, Deputy Managing Director of Ghana Airports.

Prof. Dora Akunyili, the Minister of Information and Communications, had said on Thursday that the suspect took a Virgin Nigeria flight from Accra to Lagos before boarding a KLM flight to Amsterdam.

"He began his journey in Ghana and spent less than 30 minutes at Lagos airport," she said.

Abdulmutallab changed planes at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and flew to Detroit. Nigerian and Dutch officials have said he passed through the normal security screenings at Lagos and Schiphol airports.

"We realised (he) probably could have been in Ghana ... so we heightened our security checks, but that does not mean he began his plans from Ghana," Kwakwa said.

He recalled that Ghana tightened security checks at Accra's Kotoka International Airport the day after Abdulmutallab's arrest, but said that no decision had been taken on whether to use body scanners.

"Body scanners are effective tools, but apart from the cost, there are issues such as the infringement of privacy still around its use, so we want to weigh all the options before deciding whether we should buy it or not," he said.

Nigeria and the Netherlands have already said they will introduce full body scanners. Italy will use them on passengers boarding some flights, and Britain has said it is reviewing airport security.