Written by Obinna Akukwe
Sheikh Isa Pantami, Nigeria’s Communications Minister has been trending on social media after a print media, Daily Independent, claimed he is a terrorist in the watch list of the United States Government. Since then , the embattled cabinet minister have employed all manners of tactics including hiring writers, threats, hacking of accounts, denial and all sorts to deny the terrorist tag on him. Though it was reported that the story was retracted, I know the circumstances that led to the retraction, and I know that Pantami had unleashed paid writers to defend him at all costs.
I
do not know Pantami personally, but during the early menace of Boko Haram, I
was told about an intelligent, scholarly, digital minded Northerner at Abubakar
Tafawa Balewa University by name Isa Pantami. I was told this scholar is
equally a Muslim fanatic. I don’t have problem with fanaticism, provided it
does not impede on another person’s faith.
I knew that Buhari and Sanusi are both fanatical about their faith and I have always supported them in their travails with the political systems, all through 2003 till date. The fight against Boko Haram was engulfing Jonathan, and we enlisted many to either force him to take action or get booted out.
One name that always drops when I interact with northern clerics and intellectuals is Pantami. While the Muslims believe he is a patriot, my Christian friends warned me that Pantami is a terrorist who instigated further crisis in Jos during the Jona -Jang era by asking Muslims to fight Christians. I was also told that as Chief Imam he instigated crisis in ATBU and led to the murder of a Christian Student leader of ECWA by name Sunday Achi, for daring to host religious programme on campus.