Nigerians need to focus on the service record of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami rather than on his past comments indicating that he has sympathy for terrorism and religious extremism.
The Convener of a political group, the All Progressives Congress, APC Advocates Forum, Mr Kabiru Duhu, made the call in a press briefing in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
According to him, Pantami is one Nigerian who has spoken in positive terms in the past out of his conviction as an impressionable Islamic cleric.
This, he said, was especially about AL-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden at a time many other clerics in Nigeria believed that Saudi authorities were doing the right thing.
Mr Duhu added that Dr Pantami had a change of beliefs which led to him openly withdrawing his previous extremist statements.
“But along the line, he had an experience similar to what the Holy Bible told us that Apostle Paul had on the Road to Damascus after he was exposed to fresh evidence.
“Thereafter Pantami openly recanted his previous comments and took it upon himself to preach against Islamic extremist ideologies across major cities of Northern Nigeria and which has over the years made him a target for Boko Haram which had been radicalizing thousands of youths.
“So whereas many Nigerians from the South first heard about Dr Pantami when President Muhammadu Buhari named him the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and subsequently as a cabinet member, he had for at least 10 years been a known figure in the North for his itinerant anti-Boko Haram preachings.
“He was in fact one of the few Islamic preachers that dared preached publicly against the deadly sect, before it was designated as a terrorist group, and which was why Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the insurgent group in February 2020 issued a fatwa on him and reminded Nigerians how his group shot and killed other preachers,” he said.
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Mr Duhu noted that the telecommunications sector has recorded a growth rate of 15.90 per cent which was its highest growth rate in the last ten years within the two years that Dr Pantami has been the Minister.
“With his numerous achievements, we make bold to declare that Pantami has done well and should be judged by his work in office, but not by rhetoric that he had long recanted and for which he is Boko Haram’s number one enemy today.
“We stand by the presidency and we urge Nigerians not to be swayed by the pull him down antics of his traducers who don’t mean well for the country,” Duhu said.
Zainab Sa’id
