A civil society organization, Concerned Nigerians, has written to the United States embassy in Nigeria and asked the Joe Biden administration to investigate the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, over allegations that he has links with terror groups.
The g Concerned Nigerians group is also asking that the American government places the minister on its terror watch list if the allegations against him are found to be true.
Since the allegation was made against the minister early this week, hashtag #PantamiResign has been a trending topic on Twitter, with over 30,800 tweets so far.
The minister has however denied the allegations and has also announced his readiness to sue the newspaper that reported the allegation.
The Concerned Nigerians demand is also coming as the minister has said that those behind the allegations against him are people opposed to the ongoing exercise by the Ministry to link mobile-phone subscribers SIMs to their National Identification Numbers.
The Group’s petition titled, ‘Terrorist Watchlist –Isa Pantami’ was signed by the convener, Comrade Deji Adeyanju.
It reads in part:
“We write to intimate you of remarks attributed to Sheikh Isa Pantami, Nigeria’s Communications Minister in several media platforms in the country wherein it was alleged that he had in the past openly supported and endorsed global terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and the Taliban
“Pantami was said to have also praised Osama Bin Laden, describing him as a hero and a better Muslim than himself. Such views are extremist views and a threat to a multi-religious nation like Nigeria. He has not renounced these views in the face of new revelations by the media.
“He is a senior member of President Buhari’s regime and we are of the view that a supporter of Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden should not hold a sensitive position and be in charge of the database of Nigerians. We are confident that Mr. Pantami will not resign or be sacked despite the public outcry because President Buhari is drawn to men like him.
“We implore you to investigate these allegations and if true, place him on your terrorist watchlist permanently. Those who express extremist views remain a threat to world peace as they support the mass murder of both Christians and Muslims globally. This remains unacceptable. “Our reply to those who say these men may have had a change of heart is that terrorists don’t repent, they are only looking for an opportunity to get close to power so they can strike harder.”
Meanwhile, the minister has alleged that those behind his accusations are the forces that are opposed to the Federal Government policy of compulsory National Identity Number (NIN) registration for all Nigerians and those residing in the country are behind the attacks against him.
Pantami made this declaration in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, as he dismissed all the allegations against him, describing them as ‘untrue’.
The minister also denied links with extremist views and insisted that criminals and other ‘entrenched interests’ were responsible for the attacks on him.
“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.
“In 2015, it came up, it was not successful. In 2018 there was a time that there were meetings between government and mobile network operators.
“And it was actually announced that by the agreement with the government, the deadline was January 2018. It is there online, I will share it with you if you like. By January 2018, it was not implemented, because there are forces against it. There are forces!
Pantami explained that the National Identification Number registration is not only meant for Nigerians and that it could be obtained by anybody in Nigeria.
“Now they have started coming with the news that people are coming from neighbouring countries to register. What they fail to understand is that the National Identification Number is not only for Nigerians; anybody in Nigeria can obtain it.
“Section 16 and 17 of the Act mention the registrable people in the country – citizens, legal residents, legal permanent residents, and legal residents for a minimum of two years. So, it is not only for citizens. And it is also important to know that this is not just an indication that they are citizens of Nigeria.
“It is rather an indication that you presented your biometric data, so the government has control over your data.
“And that data of NIMC (National Identity Management Commission), nobody has access to it in any way he likes. Getting access to it illegally is 10 years in prison. It is there in the law. But people will like to discredit it because they don’t like it.
“As long as it is implemented by the government, it will go a long way in reducing crime, and based on the statistics we have been seeing now, it’s really encouraging.
“As a government, our priority is the protection of the lives and property of our citizens. Security is our priority as a government – whether in agric, digital economy, education or in health, in whatever. President Muhammadu Buhari is so passionate about security, and he directed me to do that because he knows I try to persevere despite challenges and do what is right in the interest of our citizens and humanity.”
“You know as a government appointee, and at this level, if you say you are going to be intimidated by everything, then you cannot do the work. You cannot do the work. I was with the Minister of Foreign Affairs this week, on April 12. I was with the minister. I was with the ambassadors of the U.K., the U.S., South Korea, and many other countries.
“Even this issue that we are talking about, based on our findings, preliminary investigation, many people are not happy with what we have been doing – linking National Identification Number with SIM. Because a situation will come that all the people using SIM to commit a crime will not be able to do that.
“If they do that, the government will be able to intercept them easily. This is what they don’t want to happen.”
And this is a mandate given to me by President Muhammadu Buhari. He personally signed the letter that ‘you are mandated to do that.
“As his appointee, I should either do it or say I cannot. So, since I am willing to serve my country, I must continue to do it to the best of my ability.
“So, in my meeting with them, they even encouraged me to push it and make it very successful.”