Pantami ‘Greatest’ Boko Haram Fighter – Adamu Garba

Former presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba, has continued to defend the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, who has been battling to prove that he’s not affiliated to terrorists or a sympathizer of same.

Many Nigerians have in the past one-week asked Pantami to resign on the grounds that his past comments showed sympathy for terrorists.

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“…there is no greater Boko Haram fighter in Nigeria today than him (Pantami),” Adamu said in a tweet, adding that, “I mean I am very okay with change, growth, new thinking, a new reality, and the birth of the best man.”

Pantami, amidst heavy criticism, claimed that he had renounced his past extremist views on Saturday.

He also claimed that he made the comments  when he was “a teenager” and that the remarks were based on his religious understanding of issues at the time. 

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“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,” Daily Trust quoted the minister to have said. 

“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,” he had said on Saturday.

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