The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says the Federal Executive Council, FEC, did not discuss the issue of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, whose alleged previous link with Al-Qaeda and Taliban, had led to calls for his resignation.
Mohammed, who briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, did not respond to questions about whether the government was comfortable with the calls for Pantami’s sack or resignation.
“I’m not going to go into the issue of whether the government is comfortable or not. I will answer your question directly. It was not discussed at the council meeting,” Mohammed said.
Pantami, who had been embroiled in controversy over his unearthed comments endorsing both terrorist organizations, has, however, announced that he has renounced the views.
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He stated this during his daily Ramadan lecture at Annor Mosque in Abuja last Saturday, stressing that he now knows better about some of the comments he made in the past.
The Minister had posited that the campaign against him is politically motivated, hinting that in the last decade, he has moved around the country preaching against terrorism.
“For 15 years, I have moved around the country while educating people about the dangers of terrorism. I have traveled to Katsina, Gombe, Borno, Kano states, and Difa in the 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 echoed.
(Editor: Abaje Usekwe)
