After guilty plea, Nigeria welcomes US trial of Abdulmutallab

Foreign AffairsMinister,Olugbenga Ashiru, on Wednesday, welcomed the US trial of Umar Abdulmutallab few hours after the Nigerian pleaded guilty of trying to blow up a US-bound plane on Christmas Day in 2009.On the second day of his trial before a US Federal Court in Detroit, Michigan, US, Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder of 289 people.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the 24-year-old Nigerian, who is still in US custody awaiting sentencing on January 12, 2012, is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.Shortly after the proceedings in Detroit, Ashiru told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York that he considered the trial 'fair' by all standards.'He has gone through a fair trial - the process of jury selection and so on, and you saw that he had a lawyer to defend him.'Until you are proven guilty in court, we stand by our nationals and even when they are jailed, we still visit them in prison.'We do not abandon them solely because they have been sentenced, we will continue to provide all consular assistance to such people, including Abdulmuttalab, whenever he is sentenced.''According to US authorities, the 24-year old, managed to smuggle a packet of highly explosive PETN aboard the flight, along with some liquid in a syringe that he used as a detonator.After the explosives caught fire, he was overpowered by passengers and the crew.Ashiru also reaffirmed Nigeria's commitment to the fight against terrorism.
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