19th
April, 2021
PRESS RELEASE :
MURIC TO PANTAMI: DON’T
SUCCUMB TO CHEAP BLACKMAIL
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has urged
the Minister of Communications and Digital Planning, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim
Pantami, to ignore calls by some people that he should resign.
MURIC made the call on Monday, 19th
April 2021 in a statement issued by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The statement reads:
“A 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.
The second allegation was that the minister had made certain radical
pronouncements in the past.
“It 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.
Even Facebook, the US based social media giant had Pantami’s picture on
Facebook's digital board for several hours as a mark of honor and respect
during one of his numerous visits to that country.
“The campaign of calumny is being pushed by forces
against the Federal Government’s 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.
“It 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. They live a
life of Mr. Jekyll and Hyde : respected gentlemen in the day but dangerous
criminals at night and on lonely alleys.
“They have
become jittery ever since the NIN policy was introduced by Pantami’s Ministry
of Communications and Digital Policy. They are among those who stand to benefit
from Pantami’s resignation. As for the political IDPs, their motive is to
ensure that no project initiated by the current administration succeeds.
“The
implications of Pantami’s resignation at this crucial stage are too gloomy to
contemplate. It is a national security issue. The 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. There 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
“In 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. This campaign for the minister’s
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.
“On 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’ unionism to those made after maturity and clairvoyance.
It is sheer mischief to seek to use that against him.
“If 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. But our strongest evidence is the threat made by Shekau, the
current leader of Boko Haram, to kill Pantami.
“Again, 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. They 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’etre for the Shaykh to sit tight,
continue and complete his good work, all to the chagrin of mean detractors.
“Pantami 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’s life. They
wanted him to stop the NIN scheme.
“A 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.
“We call on every Nigerian who still has some
modicum of our values and norms: hardwork, truthfulness, transparency and
accountability to stand in solidarity with the honourable minister. We must not
collectively hand over one of the few symbols of our pride to people who
believe in easy money, people who see fraud as a necessity of life, people who
believe in making their own wealth by causing hardship, pain and agony for
others. It will mean the triumph of evil. We must not allow this to happen.
Auudhubillahi. Allah forbid.
“The good people
of this country must speak up in defence of truth. The Arabs say, ‘Silence on abomination is abomination’ (As-sukuutu
‘ala al-munkar munkar). According to Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. ‘The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a
decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that
those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who
believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.’
“This is the time for good people to intervene. It was Martin
Luther King Jnr who said, ‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our
enemies, but the silence of our friends’. We must not forget the warning issued
by Albert Einstein when he said, ‘The world will not be destroyed by those who
do evil but by those who watch them without doing anything’.
“MURIC will not
stand akimbo while a dedicated Nigerian is being rubbished by rogue politicians,
materialists and morally deficient people. We stand with the truth. We identify
with dignity and integrity. We stand with Pantami in this crucial moment.
#WestandwithPantami #Pantamimuststay #Beginnermustbefinisher
Professor Ishaq
Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights
Concern (MURIC)
