The allegations against him are incredible, damning and incurably damaging. It is simply incredulous that a man who is not just a member of the country’s highest decision making organ, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), but also heads one of the country’s most critical and sensitive ministries could allegedly have sympathies for notorious terrorist groups and their nefarious agenda. Trouble began for Dr. Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, when a local news outlet reported that the minister had been placed on a United States watchlist for his alleged links to terrorism. The minister’s first reaction was to deny the allegation and threaten to sue the newspaper and any other medium that published the story, while also demanding a retraction and apology.
However, both audio and video recordings began to circulate widely on social media, indeed documenting how the minister, at various stages of his career as an Islamic cleric, actually expressed views that not only bordered on religious extremism but also espoused an endorsement of the murderous activities of terrorist groups. For instance, in one of the allegations against him, Dr. Pantami was found praising the late Osama Bin Laden, founder of Al Qaeda, and saying that even though the latter was liable to make mistakes as a human being, “I still consider him a better Muslim than myself”. So, a terrorist leader like Bin Laden, who had the blood of thousands on his hands, once enjoyed the admiration of a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Another audio and video recording emerged in which, during an Islamic sermon, Dr. Pantami volunteered to lead a force of the Sharia police, Hisbah, to Shendam in Plateau State, where there had been bloody religious clashes, to fight in defence of Muslims. Another document revealed that in 2010, at a meeting of the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) chaired by Pantami, it was agreed that Christians should be prohibited from building churches in city centres across northern Nigeria. Surely, a person with this mindset cannot see himself as representing all Nigerians, irrespective of faith, in government. It is noteworthy that even though majority of the people in the north are Muslims, millions of Christians also live in the region.
In a 2006 speech, Pantami publicly offered his condolences after the death of al-Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqaw. In another audio clip, Pantami was emotion laden as he described the insurgent terrorists as “our Muslim brothers” who did not deserve to be “killed like pigs”. In another recording, Pantami said he was happy when infidels were massacred. With the mounting and apparently irrefutable evidence against him, Pantami got off his high horse and opted for a different course of action from his earlier denials and threats of legal action.
While admitting that he actually expressed the views attributed to him, the minister, in a seemingly remorseful tone, said, “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. I was young when I made some of the comments. I was in university; some of the comments were made when I was a teenager”.