To say this is not the best of times for the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami is like stating the obvious. For three weeks or thereabout now, the former University Teacher has been enmeshed in crisis over his past actions and inactions towards insurgents.
The travails of the minister started early in the month, precisely on April 12, when a news site, Independent Newspaper, ran a story with the headline ‘Disquiet As America Places Nigerian Minister On Watch List.’ The piece claimed that communication minister, Isa Pantami, was “on the watch list of America’s Intelligence Service.” In the story, which immediately went viral, the newspaper quoted an unnamed US government report which allegedly speaks to the minister’s sympathy to Boko Haram and preaching of the sect’s doctrines. Then a video shared by another news site, Newswire, alongside a freelance journalist, David Hundeyin, suggested that a 2006 debate between Mr. Pantami and Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf, links him to the terror group.
Immediately the news hit various platforms, Pantami and his spin doctors switched into action to discredit the information as the handiwork of the political enemies of the minister, who wanted him down by all means possible. First, they argued that there was no evidence that Mr. Pantami was on the U.S. watch list for terrorism. In that regard, pundits believed they might be right as the U.S. didn’t disclose those on the list. The source quoted by the platforms that published the report also did not exist. Hurriedly, the newspapers had no option but to delete the posts.
Call for retraction
In a swift reaction, the embattled minister wrote to the publishers of Daily Independent newspapers demanding a public apology and retraction of the story alleging that he is on a United States watch list over alleged links to Boko Haram.
The minister, through the legal firm of Karina Tunyan, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, demanded that the newspaper recant the story it published in its Sunday edition within 24 hours or face legal consequences.
In the events that followed, the US report turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg, as much damaging information on the part of the minister surfaced. As an Islamic Scholar and the Chief Imam of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, the minister was said to have been popular for delivering sermons that were capable of creating tensions between Muslims and people of other faiths. In particular, while the rest of the world condemned the actions of the Boko Haram insurgents, Pantami was among the few elites who were allegedly given moral support to the groups at the early stage of their operations.
While it was easy for the minister and his media minders to quickly dismiss the US report, it was difficult to prove the purveyors of the latest information wrong because there was practical evidence around to support the claim. In fact, the clips of some of his lectures resurfaced over a decade later, some of which showed he was sympathetic to extremist sects like Al-Qaeda and Taliban. The clips quickly caught online frenzy as many Nigerians demanded that the minister resign. Among other controversial comments he made in early 2000, he was quoted to have stated that he considered al-Qaeda founder, Osama Bin Laden, a better Muslim than himself, and in another, he allegedly said he was happy when infidels were massacred.
However, the minister came out to defend himself by denying links to extremist views, saying criminals and other entrenched interests are behind the attacks on him.
Mr. Pantami said the allegations were untrue claims being peddled by forces that are against the federal government policy of compulsory national identity registration for all Nigerians and those residing in the country.
“I have no doubt about this. It has to do with the National Identification Number. Do you know one thing? This policy was started in 2011, it was not successful. Why? It was fought,” he said.
Changing gear
When it appeared the minister had become overwhelmed by the attacks, he changed gear to show a sign of remorse. According to Daily Trust, the minister, while responding to questions during his daily Ramadan lecture at Anoor Mosque in Abuja, said his position on the subject has since changed, Daily Trust reported.
To this end, Pantami didn’t only explain things away, he pointed out that he was young when he made those controversial comments, adding that he had since renounced some of the comments.
Others tore into the minister asking him to clarify the statements or at the least renounce them if truly his opinion has evolved.
He noted that his position on the subject was based on the information he had at the time, some of which were the consensus opinion among clerics in northern Nigeria at the dawn of the faceoff between the West and some Islamic countries in the early-mid-2000s.
“Some of the comments I made some years ago that are generating controversies now were based on my understanding of religious issues at the time, and I have changed several positions taken in the past based on new evidence and maturity,” Daily Trust quoted him as saying.
Presidency wades in
As a result of the sensitive nature of the issue and the position of the major actor in the entire drama, Nigerians both at home and in the diaspora were expecting a categorical statement from the Presidency. In a unanimous call, individuals and groups appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to show Pantami the way out of his cabinet.
At last, the presidency budged but not in line with the public yearnings. In a statement issued by the presidency, the Buhari administration didn’t only sympathize with the minister, it stated categorically that the apology of the minister was enough to calm those aggrieved by his past comments.
Garba Shehu, President Buhari’s spokesman said the government was content with Pantami’s apologies over his past support for Taliban and Al-Qaeda and described the calls for him to resign as a “manufactured dispute”. “The Minister has, rightly, apologized for what he said in the early 2000s,” Shehu said in a statement.
Nigerians kick
Expectedly, the statement attracted criticisms, with many commentators raining insults on both the minister and the federal government. For taking such a decision to give Pantami a safe landing, many critics described the administration as being insensitive to public plight.
The fact that the minister blamed his past extremist leaning on age and immaturity, notwithstanding, some critics still dismissed the action of the government to back him.
“That excuse was not enough on the account of the fact one of the leading #EndSARS promoters Bolatito Oduala, who was targeted by the government for the clampdown, was far younger than Pantami when she protested against police brutality, which is not a crime compared to someone who gave tactical support to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and other terrorists,” a critic had stated.
A journalist and a vocal government critic, David Hundeyin, while condemning the action of the government on his Twitter handle, also dismissed the argument about being young when the minister made those statements.
He said: “The man, who at 33 years old pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and praised the Taliban is not a threat to national security and can, in fact, sit on the federal cabinet. 23 year-old Rinu, student protester, had 4 of her bank accounts frozen with DSS looking for her,”.
Another Critic said, "What Garba Shehu said about (Isa Pantami being young & immature back then) is akin to saying; “all Yahoo Boys should plead the Fifth & walk.” “I was young & naive when I was caught, now I have repented.” Then the EFCC will let them go."
Meanwhile, it is also of great concern that the hashtags trends on social media on the call for resignation or sack of Isa Pantami have generated international attention.
When the minister and his supporters thought the crisis had abated, another angle to the story surfaced with the minister being linked to the murder of one Sunday, an undergraduate at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University where Mr. Pantami was a University Imam. The late Sunday was said to be a Christian student leader who preached on the campus when he was killed by Islamic fundamentalists under Pantami’s watch.
It was also reported that in the wake of the religious crisis that engulfed Yelwa Shendam, Plateau State in 2004, Pantami allegedly volunteered to lead a jihad against Christians and admonished Muslims to shun politicians and religious clerics who preached peace and restraint. “This jihad is an obligation for every single believer, especially in Nigeria,” he was quoted to have said to cheer up his followers.
When Abū Muṣ‘ab al-Zarqāwī, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in 2006, Pantami was also quoted to have offered his public condolences.
His words: “May God have mercy on Aḥmad alFāḍil al-Khalayleh, raḥmatullāh’ alayhi. May God forgive his mistakes. He is a human being. He has certainly some mistakes in front of God, so may God forgive his mistakes. Who am I talking about? He is Abū Muṣ‘ab al-Zarqāwī.”
But despite all the revelations, Pantami seems to have gotten a safe landing this time around but many members of the public still believe the government would not have any option but to dismiss him soon to avoid international embarrassment.
