A popular cleric has revealed that he warned President Muhammadu Buhari about Isa Pantami's links with terrorists.
Isa Pantami
President Muhammadu Buhari was warned about Isa Pantami's ties with terrorists, but he chose to ignore it.
This was the claim made by the Director-General, Centre for Justice on Religion and Ethnicity in Nigeria, Kallamu Musa Ali Dikwa.
He said he had written three times to the Nigerian government over the alleged ties the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim, has with terrorism.
Dikwa, however, said the Nigerian government shunned his petitions on all three occasions.
He said he wrote the first letter addressed to the Nigerian government in 2012 during the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration and was invited to stand as a witness in the trial but the case was struck out thereafter.
Dikwa told SaharaReporters he wrote another letter in 2018 during the first term of President Muhammadu Buhari. He said he was invited to recall the letter and the VCDs attached and warned never write such again.
The pastor, who hails from the Dikwa Local Government Area of Borno state, said he wrote again in 2020 but the letter was never acknowledged.
He said, “Since the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, I have written letters to the security agencies and President of the Senate, concerning the activities of Sheikh Isa Ali Pantami, the present Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Sanusi Kalil, Sani Yahaya Jingir, Abubakar Gero and Kabiru Gombe on how they are terrorising Nigerians and doing the same activities of Boko Haram terrorists in the name of working for President Muhammadu Buhari to take over power and I submitted the letters with VCDs showing the activities of the aforementioned people.
“The former Senate President forwarded (them) to the Chairman, Senate Committee on National Security & Intelligence, Senator Mohammed Magoro. Senator Magoro, Vice Chairman of the committee, Senator Sale Maina, and the committee secretary, Umaru, invited us and we met. They agreed to take the matter to court and I was the one who was going to stand for the case and I had agreed to do so but till date, nobody has invited us again.
“The reply to our letters from the two chambers of the National Assembly dated: letter from the Senate President was 29/02/2012 and the other one was from Chairman, House Committee on Public Petitions Committee Hon. C. I. D. Maduabum (sic).
“But recently, it was reported that the US had put the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy on the watchlist of terrorists in Nigeria. Although the minister came out and gave Nigerians meaningless excuses, but he and his friends, including Mr President know within themselves that what the US said was very true.
“But we are now hearing that the Buhari government will use some of the Christians amongst the executive council such as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Minister of Foreign Affairs to discuss with the US authorities to cover up the secret and change the story. According to them, Yemi Osinbajo is a very close friend of the minister, Isa Ali Pantami."
A part of the letter shared with SaharaReporters read, “...In the same vein, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami preached to his followers in Bauchi that Governor David Jonah Jang had urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Bauchi State because of Kalakato and Boko Haram. According to Isa Pantami, all the killings of Muslims in Plateau State were perpetrated by Governor Jonah David Jang and Gbong-Gwom Jos-Da Jacob Gyang Buba.
“Dr Pantami said, according to Daily Trust newspaper as captured in the column of the current minister of education, Malam Adamu Adamu, out of three thousand people killed in Plateau State, two thousand eight hundred are Muslims.
“According to Pantami, Governor Jang and Bauchi State CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) Chairman, and some Christians leaders held a meeting in Lagos with journalists at Sheraton Hotel to plan how to kill Muslims in this country. Pantami said when the last 2010 crisis started, the Sultan of Sokoto called Governor Jonah Jang on the phone over 20 times and Jang refused to answer the Sultan's calls.
“Dr Ali Pantami said all Muslims must buy weapons to fight Christians in this country. It is regrettable that as President, you could appoint this kind of extremist, and fanatical Islamic scholar, Dr Isa Ibrahim Ali Pantami as Director-General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) who hates and pathologically dislikes Christians and any non-Muslim person. Mr President, you also reappointed him as the Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2019.
“It should be noted that the above-mentioned names i.e Islamic clerics such as Sheikh Sani Jingir, Sheikh Abubakar Gero, Sheikh Sanusi Khalid and Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami only promote hate speeches and always motivate and incite their adherents to kill Christians and this is well known to security agencies. Unfortunately, and sadly enough, the appropriate security agencies have failed to act decisively. We submitted copies of CD plates of their teachings and recommended that they should be arrested and prosecuted accordingly."
Dikwa warned that Nigerians should be careful about linking their mobile phone numbers to their National Identification Numbers as required by the government.
He alleged that it would enable bandits, killer-herdsmen and Boko Haram terrorists to prey on Nigerians using their information after the current leaders have left the government.
“They are also looking to change the names of these terrorist groups that they are using now to a different name.
“Federal government knows where these terrorists are staying, they meet with leaders of these terrorist groups anywhere and anytime. Dr Ahmed Gumi and Prof. Umar Yusuf meet with the North-West terrorist group, so-called bandits and kidnappers and give feedback to the federal government on what the bandits and kidnappers want from the government. So, why is it that the government has continued to deceive Nigerians?
“Also, members of the DSS (Department of State Services) and military are the ones always escorting members of a non-governmental organisation called Kalthum Foundation to receive kidnapped victims from ISWAP/Boko Haram terrorists after the families have paid millions of naira in ransom."