Federal Executive Council Avoids Debate On Pantami

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday, April 21, failed to deliberate on the controversy generated by reports linking the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, to Al-Qaeda and Taliban.

FEC also deliberately side-stepped conversation on nationwide calls for the Minister’s resignation over the allegation.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja on Wednesday, said the issue was not raised at the meeting.

Pantami was one of the ministers who attended the council meeting remotely through video link-up.

Mohammed had been asked whether the council discussed the matter and whether the government was comfortable with the development.

Mohammed responded: “I’m not going to go into the issue of whether government is comfortable or not. I will answer your questioned directly. It was not discussed at the council meeting.”

Pantami, who had been embroiled in controversy over his previous comments endorsing some 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 knows better about some of the comments he made in the past.

Pantami had posited that the campaign against him is politically motivated.

“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 the international events and therefore took some positions based on their understanding, some have come to change their positions later, ” he had remarked.