Former Assistant Director with the Department
of State Services, Dennis Amachree, has said
the secret police informed the Federal
Government and the National Assembly of the
past radical pro-Taliban views of embattled
Minister of Communications and Digital
Economy, Isa Pantami before his confirmation
as minister in 2019.
This came as the Federal Executive Council,
FEC, said the alleged link of the minister with
Al-Qaeda and Taliban some years ago was not
discussed at its meeting yesterday.
These came on a day the Minority Leader of
the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu,
at plenary, moved for the immediate
resignation or sack of the minister for showing
sympathy to the deadly activities of insurgents.
Amachree, who spoke while featuring on
PUNCH Online interview programme, The
Roundtable, yesterday, however, said the
minister must have been confirmed by the
National Assembly due to a lot of factors,
including federal character balancing.
Pantami, a former director-general with the
National Information Technology Development
Agency, NITDA, is the only member of the
Federal Executive Council from Gombe State.
Amachree also said the minister should resign
as it was difficult to deradicalise someone of
his kind.
He said DSS had information on all individuals
of interest, adding that the minister’s past
extremist views were communicated to the
Federal Government and the legislature.
He said: “There is no information that escapes
the DSS. We have all of it, all. When I was
working there, we keep a catalogue of anybody
of interest that comes up to limelight in this
country.
“During the vetting process for anybody to be
appointed a minister or commissioner or
anything, your name is sent to the DSS for
vetting. They check your background up to the
extent of your grandmother.
‘’They check your schools up to the extent of
your primary school. And of course, they keep
a tab on you online and offline. We get a lot
from open source intelligence and I can tell you
that in Pantami’s case, we have it.
“But there is a political angle to it. When
somebody is being appointed, if the security
agencies see that there is something wrong
with his name, they will send it to the
appointing agency.
‘’The appointing agency will now decide
amongst other variables either religious
variable, federal character balancing variable, or
political variable and say that, ‘Oh, yes, we
know that this guy has this and that but let’s
appoint him.
“So, the political decision is not taken by the
SSS. Even when you go to the Senate for
confirmation, there is party by party and you
can see that there are some political
candidates that the opposition party will say
that this one will not be appointed but because
he belongs to that party, they will appoint him.
‘’So, these are political and federal balancing
where they will say that there is nobody from
this place that has been appointed, so let’s
appoint him.”
The ex-DSS director, who disclosed that the
United States was gathering information on the
communications minister, said: “He (Pantami)
has just submitted his name into US database.
The cataloguing of people is not automatic, it
comes in drips and drops.
‘’Now, people are talking about him and that
has come to the attention of the United States
Embassy in Nigeria already. Now, they will do a
deeper dive into his background. They will
catalogue him and now they will start watching
him and if it comes to a very critical level, they
will place him on a no-fly zone.”
Also yesterday the Federal Executive Council,
FEC, said the minister’s alleged link with Al-
Qaeda and Taliban some years ago was not
discussed at its meeting.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, who briefed State House
correspondents at the end of the council
meeting presided over by President
Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chamber,
Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the issue was not
raised at the meeting.
Pantami was not physically present at the
meeting but attended virtually from his office.
Fielding questions on whether the council
discussed the matter and government was
comfortable with its burden on its image, Alhaji
Mohammed said: “I’m not going to go into the
issue of whether government is comfortable or
not. I will answer your question directly. It was
not discussed at the council meeting.”
Pantami, who had been embroiled in
controversies over his previous comments
endorsing both terrorists organizations has,
however, announced that he had renounced
the views.
He said during his daily Ramadan lecture at
Annor Mosque in Abuja last Saturday that he
now knew better about some of the comments
he made in the past.
Pantami had posited that the campaign against
him was politically motivated, saying “for 15
years, I have moved round the country while
educating people about the dangers of
terrorism.
‘’I have traveled to Katsina, Gombe, Borno,
Kano states and Difa in Niger Republic to
preach against terrorism.
“I have engaged those with Boko Haram
ideologies in different places. I have been
writing pamphlets in Hausa, English and
Arabic. I have managed to bring back several
young persons who have derailed from the
right path.
“Some of the comments I made some years
ago that are generating controversies now
were based on my understanding of religious
issues at the time, and I have changed several
positions taken in the past, based on new
evidence and maturity.
“I was young when I made some of the
comments; I was in university, some of the
comments were made when I was a teenager.
“I started preaching when I was 13, many
scholars and individuals did not understand
some of international events and, therefore,
took some positions based on their
understanding, some have come to change
their positions later.”
Meanwhile, the Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, yesterday
called for the immediate resignation or sack of
the Minister of Communications and Digital
Economy, Isa Pantami for showing sympathy
to the deadly activities of insurgents.
Relying under matters of privilege, Elumelu
asked the House to cause a debate on the
issue, particularly demanding Pantami’s exit
from office.
Elumelu said that Pantami’s apology didn’t
hold water, stressing that even the minister
had apologized for his previous links with
terrorists.
He said: “Mr Speaker, my privilege borders on
one of the serving ministers called Sheikh Ali
Isa Ibrahim Pantami. He is the Minister for
Communication and Digital Economy of the
federal republic. And the portfolio that he
currently occupies gives him the free latitude
to administer, coordinate and manage flow of
sensitive information within and outside the
shores of Nigeria.
“Mr. Speaker, there have been insinuations that
he has direct links and personally subscribes
to the extreme Islamic beliefs of Al-Qaeda,
Taliban and Boko Haram sects. Evidence
compelling the cyber space lays strong
credence to a relationship and existing mutual
collaboration between him and the deceased
Yemen terrorist.
‘’Recently, Mr speaker, while the minister was
answering questions during his daily
Ramandan lecture a few days ago, he owned
up that he took extreme positions in support of
the brutal exploits of Al-Queda and Taliban out
of ignorance, claiming that he was young when
he did that but now he is matured.
“Mr Speaker, I feel it will be out of place for me
to sit here and allow this chamber not to speak
about it and totally call for his resignation or
suspension.”
Ruling on the matter, the speaker, Femi
Gbajabiamila, who presided over plenary,
faulted Elumelu for raising a point of privilege
without showing how his privileges were
breached.
This however, came when many members had
indicated interests to speak on the matter.
Usually, such issues are presented as a formal
motion to be debated but Elumelu came under
point of personal privilege, prompting a
technicality to it.
“I think you came under the wrong order. But
your point of order is well noted. As you know,
we don’t debate such issues, if it comes under
privilege. Thank you,” Gbajabiamila said.
Source :- Vanguard