Isa Pantami
By Fejiro Oliver
Anyone who supports terrorism, anyone who see terrorism as a legitimate
means, anyone who uses terrorism to cause the death of innocent people
is a terrorist in my eyes-Milos Zeman
When next you go to the embassy as a Nigerian and you are denied visa
without reason, you are free to go to the Ministry of Communications and
Digital Economy to pull out the Minister, Sheikh Ali Isa Ibrahim Pantami
and beat him mercilessly for making you waste your money, time and
having a record of visa denial. You can be sure that his refusal to
resign and President Muhammadu Buhari refusal to sack him despite public
acknowledgement by him of his sympathy to terrorists is the reason
embassies have placed Nigerians on watch list.
Pantami’s appointment into such sensitive position is not a fluke. Let
me take you on a ride on who he is and the powers he wield in the
Presidential Villa, so much that he is feared by other ministers.
There are three kinds of Muslims namely; the Izala, Shiites and the
Deraka. While the Izala is the majority and very arrogant, the Shiites
is the minority. The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar
Malami, Hadi Sirka who’s Minister of Aviation and Pantami belongs to the
Izala, which incidentally I learn the President also belongs to, even
though he does not share in the extremist nature of Pantami’s
orientation. The three currently form the cabal in the presidency. If
you are wondering why Pantami is not panting, unbothered and very sure
that he won’t be sacked, this here is the reason.
But Nigeria is not a republic where its citizens do not have a say on
what happens in government. He who pays the piper dictates the tune and
this is the approach Nigerians home and abroad must follow if Pantami
must go either through forceful resignation or sack byBuhari. Pantami
did not get his ministerial nod via fiat. He got it with the full
consent of the National Assembly even though the two legislative
chambers are mere seals of Mr President. It took the 360 House of
Representative members and the 109 Senators to wear the ministerial garb
on Pantami. It took a minimum of two Federal constituencies to get the
Federal lawmaker into the hallowed chambers. It took over eighteens
states of the Federation to put Buhari in the State House and all these
were done by the people who sacrifice their blood and sweat to pay their
bogus allowances, salaries even when they are unproductive to the
country. We pay these pipers and will dictate this tune, starting with
Pantami.
We cannot change the goalpost at the middle of the game. We cannot cry
“crucify her” when we caught a petty thief and now shout “Hosanna”, when
we catch a self confessed armed robber. If we can kick out Adesoun Kemi
as a Minister through public outcry, then Pantami must follow same
unless the maxim “the voice of the people is the voice of God” has no
place in Nigeria. If that is the case, we all can begin to call for the
release of all armed robbers, terrorists and militants arrested by the
Nigerian government.
Pantami needs no push to resign from such hallowed position. It is in
his integrity and dignity to quietly tender his resignation, apologise
to the nation for the global embarrassment caused us and submit himself
to the State Security Service (SSS) for vetting and then undergo
guidance and counseling on how to be patriotic to the nation first
before religious belief. Whatever press release that Garba Shehu has
released on Buhari’s behalf is only binding on the Ministers and Mr
President’s behalf, not the elected governors, lawmakers and over 200
million Nigerians that have demanded and still demanding for the removal
of a self confessed terrorist apologist.
For every minute Pantami stays in power, Nigerians across the globe are
endangered and this cannot be allowed to happen. It is not about the
President any longer but the rule of law and the constitution. The first
duty of government is the protection of life and properties of its
citizens. This has been breached already by Pantami. No Nigerian feels
safe again with the Minister having access to every data and details of
our living.
For the records, by virtue of his position as communication minister, he
has access to ALL our BVNs, email and social media handles, house
addresses, office address, family genealogy, phone numbers and bio-data.
Anyone with such information controls the people and can decide to wipe
them out in a split of second. I fear for my life and my family. I live
in fright daily that Boko Haram and other terrorists can be given by
house address to get me killed. I live in fear that my phone can be
tracked now by those Pantami ‘once’ owe allegiance to, in order to take
me out of existence. This fear of mine pervades every Nigeria home.
With the linking of our NIN to phone numbers, Pantami can be anywhere in
the world to monitor my movement and others. He can pass information on
me to his comrade at arms to strike simply because he does not like what
I post on facebook or tweet. He doesn’t need to pass a fatwa publicly
any longer like he passed on activist Deji Adeyanju. All he needs to do
henceforth is to send out our details with ‘fatwa’ written in code and
with the speed of light, an individual is killed. We are in dangerous
times and this calls for civil disobedience.
The Nigerian people must demand for the removal of Pantami as Minister.
If Buhari will not sack him, we have a duty to also boycott every NIN
registration and anything that has to do with digital registration under
him. For heaven sake, what is so special about Pantami that he cannot be
sacked by the President? Let us concede that Buhari has the prerogative
to sack a minister once he has been confirmed by the Senate. What then
is special in Pantami that he must head such a sensitive position,
considering his past that he can’t be moved to another ministry? Is this
a plan to rig 2023 election since they now have all data of eligible
voters in the national database?
The statement by the presidency is the most reckless, careless,
insulting and inconsiderate one ever made by any sitting President.
Every paragraph reeks of stupid arrogance that tells us to go to hell.
Crime has no expiry date and will never have and prosecution must take
place no matter how long it takes, unless there is immediate state
pardon. In the case of Pantami, the presidency is wrong to tell us that
“The Minister has, rightly aplologised for what he said in the early
2000s”. Nigerians have accepted his apology but cannot allow such a man
access to their digital and personal life. The President should know
that the apology is only a matter of circumstance and not because he
meant it. Terrorists and their sympathizers don’t repent. They only look
for bigger opportunities to strike. Making excuse for what Pantami did
in his early 30s is giving approval for all Nigerians to henceforth fan
the embers of hate speech, terrorism and support for every evil, knowing
that they will be forgiven a year to their 50th birthday.
According to Garba, those in the opposition are behind the recent
“campaign against the minister by some ICT companies” and therefore “The
government is now investigating the veracity behind these claims of
attempted inducement, and – should they be found to hold credence –
police and judicial action must be expected”. There you have it
Nigerians, be prepared for massive arrest in the coming days. The same
government that is yet to direct the SSS to investigate Pantami over his
terrorism comments and media allegations of being behind Patrick Ibrahim
Yakowa and Gen. Aziza’s death in 2012 is already investigating unfounded
insinuations that exists only in their imaginations.
Garba Shehu and the Presidency he writes for must in the word of Anna
Lindh that “Terrorism can never be accepted. We must fight it together,
with methods that do not compromise our respect for the rule of law and
human rights, or are used as excuse for others to do so”. To spare
Pantami is to give the shout out to other terrorists’ sympathizers in
their 20s and 30s that they can utter all they want and will be forgiven
when they are about to clock 50 years, irrespective of what their
actions must have caused the people and the nation. Buhari had a golden
chance to pass a strong message that terrorism in whatever form will not
be tolerated by his government using Pantami as an example, but he
burgled it in support of his religion instead of his love for Nigeria.
Pantami must go and the heavens will not fall if Nigerians keep
pressing, including asking the United States, EU countries and China to
place every member of the presidency under terrorism watch list and visa
ban to them and their families for harboring a known terrorist
apologists among them. The minister does not reflect the peaceful and
non violent nature of the Islam that we know of. He does not even
epitomize the loving and welcoming character that the Izalas are known
for. We will not call out our beloved Muslim brothers for the abominable
sins of Pantami. Pantami just has to go and Buhari knows it. Like
biblical Jonah on his way to Nineveh who was thrown into the river to
save the others after confessing his sins, Pantami should also be shown
the way out of the cabinet. The government of Saudi Arabia where he got
his orientation from will be willing to welcome him.
These little things matter…
Fejiro Oliver is Editor In Chief of Secrets Reporters News,
Investigative Journalist and Rights Activist can be reached on
[email protected]. Engage him on twitter on @fejirooliver86
