Pantami and the Devils Within
By Engr Muhammad Zarma
I had wanted not to post this but it appears there is need to set the record straight and inform Nigerians on the reality on ground . There is never any minister in the history of Nigeria today that headed the ministry of communication that brought about revolutionary changes in the system, these changes are cogent and very important, for if we really need Nigeria to work we must first of all understand the complexity of the nature of the country as a whole and a few group of people intend to thwat the image of this young minister.
Granted that he was a cleric, and he has made some statements that seem to have irked many Nigerians , even though he was young and full of exuberance at that time., but you cannot take away his intelligence and his approach to issues, he was a cleric, a teacher and a lecturer, he thaught what most so called islamic militants view as a gross violation to their way of thinking and Creed, however he never for one moment hesitated in his pursuit of knowledge after all it’s only when you learn that you will know the truth from falsehood, he was a reputable scholar who expresses his views the way he saw it, when the Nigerian people felt it was time to get independence they fought the British and independence was achieved but some Nigerians never liked it, he has his own opinion about matters and he at that time felt he should express himself, but as time goes on and as his knowledge both of the western and non western education increased he realised that what the islamist stood for was not the rational and indeed inislamic
He studied in the U.K and nobody asked him of his opinion about alqaeeda or Taliban, as far as they are concerned that’s his personal opinion and has no impact on what he set out to study, he made his PhD and left the U.K nobody asked him why or what he felt about alqaeeda, though at that time he was young. He came out with flying colors and decided to still return back home and clear the misconception about the ideology of alqaeeda. Mal Pantami was the first cleric or mallam that confronted Mohammed yusuf ( leader of Boko Haram) in bauchi on his alqaeeda ideology or calling the western education blasphemous, it was on record that he challanged Yusuf to prove anywhere that’s proscribed to learn western education in Islam, Yusuf ignore him and went ahead with the philosophy of alqaeeda and went ahead to establish Boko Haram, there was never anytime pantami agreed to supported their cause, and at the end of the day, the shekau leadership declared him an infidel and wanted his head , he had to flee the country, what sacrifice can someone make for his country?
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He was appointed the DG of NITDA because of his credentials and has done a tremendous job there which earned him the nomination as a minister, at that point in time he got all together about 3 different appointments outside Nigeria including the U.K but he declined and retuned home to serve his fatherland. Upon his arrival the first thing he did was to analyse the root cause of the supporters of Boko Haram which by the way is an affiliate of ISIS and by extension alqaeeda, the need to identify the source of communication, funding etc is vital to the overall success of the fight against Boko Haram, and indeed his innovative ideas was what initiated this headhunt and character assassination, because those who fund or sponsor Boko Haram will not have access to the billion of naira either stolen in Nigeria or funded outside, the introduction of the NIN, and the linking to bank accounts has so far yielded positive and remarkable results and many of the promoters of Boko Haram are now wary of doing the business they consider usual.
I’m an pragmatist and will always call a spade by it’s name, pantami has been a minister for quite some time now and nobody ever mentioned his links to any terror group until the introduction of these measures to curtail if you like the funding mechanism as well as communication platforms for these lunatics. An objective mind will always look at the substance before judging and from where I stand it’s the enemies of Nigeria who have bled this country dry by stealing funds and operating multiple accounts that are worried and the only way to get at him is to concoct what he said many years ago as a tool to stain his image, that will never succeed, all the people who stole money be if for finding terror or for their selfish needs should have every cause to worry as they will surely be exposed, even the banks that supports such transaction are not left behind. Quite recently some Nigerians operating in Dubai and laundering money to support Boko Haram are apprehended, is it possible that this could have been the work of this initiative? I dare say yes.
I implore Nigerians to look at things objectively and rationalise every issue according to it’s merit, he might have said things when he was young that weren’t accomodating to some but the fact that he publicly admitted his opinion at that time as unhealthy to the Nigerian state is enough a reason for one to judge that he isn’t a part of the pact, we should also look deep down to see why these issues crop up these days, and what’s the motive behind it. As long as he is the minister, the process will continue and anyone who is either a sponsor of a terror group or a common thief that feels he can reap Nigeria off will be exposed and the Nigerian people will know the reality on ground, it’s such forces that want to stop this action that are responsible for all this stories and they will not succeed even if pantami isn’t the minister.
With due respect to those whose sentiments are still hinged on this matter, it’s knowledge and research that will set the grains from he chaff apart, the enemies within are trying to ridicule the personality of one man who is set to change the narrative and to bring sanity to the unwholesome plunder of resources by some unpatriotic Nigerians who never wished well for this country. I stand by his position on continuous registration of NIN to ones bank account and their respective SIM cards. No ammount of intimidation will stop that, Nigeria and Nigerians have come of age where rethorics and insinuation will not hold sway over a decent and rationally objective ways of sanitising the system, and returning Nigeria to where one has to think twice before embezzling government funds to either support, promote or assist the enemies of the state, be it who that person or persons may be.
Engr Muhammad Zarma
Email : [email protected]
