Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami, has negated reports that the United States allegedly placed him on a ‘terror watch list’ for alleged ties with the late Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf.
Pantani said he has been preaching against Boko Haram for over 15 years over its condemnable doctrines and practices. Pantami, an Islamic cleric, was alleged to have been a mentor to the founder of the militant Islamist group, who was killed in 2009 in the North-East.
Yusuf’s death triggered a chain of violent activities, including era bombings, kidnappings and hostage-taking among others that have led to massive death and destructions in the North-East. Social media, especially Twitter, was awash on Monday by the reports published by some news platforms (not The Nation), went viral. Some of the leading platforms have however retracted the report and apologised to the Minister. Reacting to the allegation on Twitter, Patanmi stated: “My lectures against the doctrines and all other evil people have been available for over 15 years, including debates that endangered my life against many criminals in Nigeria. “If you can’t understand Hausa, get an objective Hausa speaker to translate for you objectively.”
