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.
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