{"id":42541,"date":"2021-04-19T14:48:35","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T14:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=42541"},"modified":"2021-04-19T14:48:47","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T14:48:47","slug":"muric-backs-embattled-minister-pantami-tells-him-not-to-succumb-to-blackmail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=42541","title":{"rendered":"MURIC backs embattled minister, Pantami, tells him not to succumb to blackmail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has thrown its weight behind embattled Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, urging him to ignore calls by some Nigerians that he should resign following his alleged links to global Islamists terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and the Taliban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the calls for Pantami to resign or be fired by President Muhammadu Buhari over his alleged ties to terrorists sects continues, MURIC, in a statement issued by its Director General, Professor Ishaq Akintola on Sunday, described the campaign for Pantami to step down as politically motivated, and has urged him not to succumb to blackmail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Hinging its position on the fact that Pantami<\/a> has renounced the statements he made before he was made Minister, MURIC opined that just as everyone has a past, Pantami should not be judged based on his antecedents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement by MURIC reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA section of the Nigerian press published reports of calls being made by some people for the resignation of Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami over the fake news that the US had placed him on its watchlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe second allegation was that the minister had made certain radical pronouncements in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a baseless call and it should be ignored. Afterall, the US itself has denied it. Dr. Pantami has been enjoying unhindered multiple entry to the US for a very long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven Facebook, the US based social media giant had Pantami\u2019s picture on Facebook\u2019s digital board for several hours as a mark of honor and respect during one of his numerous visits to that country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe campaign of calumny is being pushed by forces against the Federal Government\u2019s NIN policy, Boko Haram terrorists, bandits, criminals in general and political IDPs (Internally Displaced Politicians). No one who has the love of Nigeria at heart will support such a malicious and frivolous allegation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a well-known fact that NIN is designed to expose the true identity of criminals like Yahoo Yahoo boys, bandits and kidnappers who use the internet and telephone to extort money from foreigners and families of kidnapped victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey live a life of Mr. Jekyll and Hyde, respected gentlemen in the day but dangerous criminals at night and on lonely alleys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have become jittery ever since the NIN policy was introduced by Pantami\u2019s Ministry of Communications and Digital Policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are among those who stand to benefit from Pantami\u2019s resignation. As for the political IDPs, their motive is to ensure that no project initiated by the current administration succeeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe implications of Pantami\u2019s resignation at this crucial stage are too gloomy to contemplate. It is a national security issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe NIN scheme, our hope for dealing a technical blow on terrorism, insurgency, kidnapping and all sorts of criminality in the country will suffer suffocating palpitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere will be a break in monitoring. It is better for us to allow the man who started it to finish it. If any problem arises after we have changed hands in the middle of its implementation, the new boss will easily shift the blame. It will then be a double tragedy. Let the beginner be the finisher. #beginnermustbefinisher<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the interest of our great country, Nigeria, we therefore charge Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami to ignore calls for his resignation. An agitation for resignation which is not based on sincerity and truth must be resisted by patriots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis campaign for the minister\u2019s resignation is in bad taste. It is pregnant with ulterior motives. Pantami must not surrender. He must not succumb to cheap blackmail. A captain does not abandon ship in stormy waters. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the issue of statements credited to Pantami in his younger days, we wonder how detractors would give preference to pronouncements made by a teenager and those made in the days of students\u2019 unionism to those made after maturity and clairvoyance. It is sheer mischief to seek to use that against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf they have evidence of speeches delivered 35 years ago when Pantami was a teenager, we have indubitable proof of more recent anti-terrorism speeches, particularly his public debates with the late Boko Haram leader Muhammad Yusuf where the minister made mincemeat of the arguments of Muhammad Yusuf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut our strongest evidence is the threat made by Shekau, the current leader of Boko Haram, to kill Pantami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgain, come to think of it. It was not as if the minister committed any official misconduct. Neither is it for abuse of office nor for corrupt enrichment. Some people just want to crucify him for daring to acquire infotech skills ostensibly reserved for a certain circle of elites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey believe that this is a field jealously reserved and guarded for the Western literati and their Nigerian cronies. Not an area for a mallam. It is just too petty the way some Nigerians think and behave. This is another big raison d\u2019etre for the Shaykh to sit tight, continue and complete his good work, all to the chagrin of mean detractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPantami could have resigned the moment his life was threatened by the Boko Haram leader in February 2021. But he continued to wheather the storm because he was determined to finish the NIN scheme which he initiated. He knows that his intiative is crucial to the defeat of insurgency and terrorism. The terrorists also know it and that was the cassu belli for the threat on Pantami\u2019s life. They wanted him to stop the NIN scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA man who puts his life on the line for the sake of his country deserves the support of every right thinking Nigerian. It is therefore ironical that the same man is being asked to resign. This is definitely a gangup by rebellious subjects and enemies of the people. They do not mean well for Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n