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Isa Ali Pantami
FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, MCPN, CON.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy
In office
21 August 2019 – 29 May 2023
Preceded byAdebayo Shittu
Succeeded byBosun Tijani
Director General of the NITDA
In office
26 September 2016 – 20 August 2019
Preceded byPeter Jack
Succeeded byInuwa Kashifu Abdullahi
Personal details
Born
Isa Ali Ibrahim

Gombe State, Nigeria
RelationsMarried
ResidenceAbuja
Alma mater

Isa Ali Ibrahim (Listenⓘ) popularly known as Isa Ali Pantami, is a Nigerian politician and Islamic cleric, who was minister of Communications and Digital Economy from 2019 to 2023. He also was director general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) of Nigeria from 26 September 2016 to 20 August 2019, before he was nominated as minister and sworn into office on 21 August 2019.[1][2][3]

Pantami is among seven readers (associate professors) promoted to Professor by the Governing Council of Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) at its 186th meeting held on Friday, 20 August 2021.[4][5][6][7] However, this promotion continues to generate controversy, and has been strongly questioned by some intellectuals on allegations that it did not follow the extant due process in professorship appointments in Nigeria academia. During all this controversial, no word was heard from Pantami.[8][9]

Career

Pantami was a lecturer at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi in Information Technology before joining the Islamic University of Madinah at the new faculty of Computing and Information Systems as Head of Technical Writing in 2014.[3][10][11]

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy

After President Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected and his cabinet reshuffled in 2019, Pantami was appointed to become the first Minister of Communications and Digital Economy after the renaming of the title to include "Digital Economy".

Based on feedback received from the security agencies following the revalidation of improperly registered SIM cards in September 2019 and the blocking of those that failed to revalidate their SIMs, Pantami directed the Nigerian Communications Commission to implement the SIM Card registration and usage policy which seek to ensure an individual can only have a maximum number of 3 SIM cards, while new users of existing users are expected to update their details with their NINs before December 1, 2020.[12] Due to this, on 13 Feb 2020, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau openly threatened Pantami and condemned the new policy to restrict the number of mobile SIM cards a subscriber can legally own to three. Shekau also reminded Pantami of the fate of Sheikh Ja'afar Mahmud Adam, a cleric that was assassinated in his mosque in Kano, and called on terrorists across Africa to target him saying, "My brothers in Africa, Nigeria or elsewhere, what happened to Jaafar is nothing, take action on Isa Ali Pantami wherever you find him."[13]

Pantami is a fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS) and the Nigeria Computer Society (FNCS).[14]

Pantami assumes Chairmanship of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum in May 2022. This followed the inauguration by the Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at Geneva, Switzerland.[15]

In April 2021, an article by The Daily Independent, an online media company, linked Pantami to a former leader of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, and stated that Pantami had been listed by the American government on its terrorist watch list. The article was later retracted by both the Daily Independent and NewswireNGR, another online news portal that copied the article,[16][17] after the claims could not be proved. A fact check by Premium Times stated that "it is FALSE to claim that the debate between Mr Pantami and the late Yusuf was a friendly chat. It was a heated debate which has now formed the basis for scholarly research on the ideology of Boko Haram" but could not confirm if Pantami was placed on the terrorist watchlist of the United States of America government as the latter does not disclose those on the list.[18] Pantami threatened to sue the publications that published the original article, stating that while he accepts the retraction from NewsWireNgr, "investigative journalism requires the investigation before publishing, not after" and that "major publishers will meet my lawyers in the court on this defamation of character."[19] The Daily Independent apologized to Pantami, saying in a statement, "We regret and sincerely apologize for the embarrassment our story has caused the Honourable Minister."

However, audio published by Peoples Gazette shows that Pantami was sympathetic to Boko Haram members when delivering sermons in the mid to late 2000s.[20] This revelation led to further resurfacing of Pantami's old speeches, including a 2004 speech where he expressed support for the Taliban and al-Qaeda (“Oh God, give victory to the Taliban and to al-Qaeda") and claimed that “jihad is an obligation for every single believer, especially in Nigeria." These speeches along with other speeches like one from 2006 where Pantami mourned the death of the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (“May God have mercy on Ahmad Fadeel al-Khalayleh [al-Zarqawi's birth name]) were included in a 2019 academic monograph Debating Boko Haram published by the Centre for Contemporary Islam at the University of Cape Town, South Africa,[21] that went mainly unreported in Nigeria.[22][23] The statements ignited controversy and calls for Pantami's resignation as Communications Minister under the hashtag, #PantamiResign.[24][25]

Pantami denied condoning terrorism or holding bigoted beliefs, claiming that the majority of his staff are Christians and saying in a Peoples Gazette interview that "if I did not like Christians or I did not see them as my brothers and sisters, I would not have been working with them for so long." He also said that he had "long preached peaceful coexistence amongst people of every faith and ethnicity" along with claiming that the authors of Debating Boko Haram erred in failing to reach out to him and may have used a poor or biased translation of Hausa.[26] A pro-Pantami campaign to counter the online calls for resignation was exposed when the official Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy Twitter account accidentally tweeted #PantamiWillStay and #PantamiwillnotResign on 17 April after two days of #PantamiResign trending; the tweet was quickly deleted.[27] Supporters of Pantami with no clear connection to his Ministry did eventually get the #PantamiWillStay hashtag trending on Twitter; however, due to the Ministry's accidental tweet, it is unclear if the trend was organic.[28]

After the backlash and calls for resignation continued, Pantami disavowed the statements on 17 April, saying "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."[29] Despite the recantation, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party joined calls for Pantami's resignation and also asked the Department of State Services to investigate him.[30] The minister drew further condemnation when he responded to a Facebook post attacking political activist Deji Adeyanju with “Allah ya tsine masa albarka” in Hausa which roughly translates to “May Allah reject his blessings.” This reply was followed by scores of Pantami supporters posting pictures of Adeyanju in crosshairs leading many to accuse Pantami of inciting violence; for his part, Pantami claimed his account was hacked and deleted the reply.[31][32]

On April 22, President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu released a statement backing Pantami, saying while "the views were absolutely unacceptable then, and would be equally unacceptable today...Time has passed, and people and their opinions – often rightly – change." The statement ended with "The Administration stands behind Minister Pantami and all Nigerian citizens to ensure they receive fair treatment, fair prices, and fair protection in ICT services."[33] Despite this defense, calls for Pantami's resignation continued.[34][35][36] Senator Ajibola Basiru, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, later stated that for Pantami's confirmation as Minister, "no security agency approached us to give us any information that could indict him, both at the time of his appointment and even now...we did our job based on facts available to us" and disagreed with calls for the sacking of Pantami saying there is a "difference between legality and political consideration which is not in the purview of the National Assembly...the Constitution stipulates requirements to be a Minister and he hasn’t run foul of any as far as we are concerned."[37]

Books Authored

Some of the books authored by Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim are:

  • Skills Rather Than Just Degrees[38]
  • Cybersecurity Initiatives for Securing a Country[39]
  • A Scholar's Journey: Navigating Academia\[40]
  • Building A Digital Economy for a Digital Africa
  • Datafication of Society to Foster an Internet Economy
  • Counter- Terrorism Through Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies.
  • Selected Speeches on Developing the Nigerian ICT Sector

References

  1. ^ "Buhari swears in ministers (LIVE UPDATES)". Premium Times. 21 August 2019. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  2. ^ "21 August 2019". No. 21 August 2019. Punch Newspapers. 21 August 2019. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b Meet the New NITDA Director-General-Dr Isa Ali Pantami Archived 30 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Sahara Standard
  4. ^ "Communications Minister, Pantami Becomes Professor of Cyber Security". PRNigeria. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Pantami promoted to professor of cyber security". Guardian Newspapers. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  6. ^ Malumfashi, Muhammad (6 September 2021). "Isa Pantami ya zama Farfesan Jami'a yana rike da kujerar Ministan Gwamnati a Najeriya". legit.hausa.ng. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  7. ^ "Aisha Buhari Pantami: President Buhari wife explain why she use Prof. Isa Pantami video on Nigeria security". BBC News Pidgin. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  8. ^ "Pantami's fake FUTO professorship joins other intellectual frauds". 11 September 2021.
  9. ^ "Definitive case against Pantami's FUTO fraudfessorship". 18 September 2021.
  10. ^ Pantami Archived 13 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine, National Information Technology Development Agency
  11. ^ "Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami". islamicmarkets.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  12. ^ Ekine, Moseph. "Why you no go fit use pass three SIM Cards for Nigeria". BBC Pidgin. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  13. ^ Haruna, Abdulkareem (15 February 2020). "In new video, Boko Haram leader Shekau threatens minister, journalists". BBC Pidgin. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  14. ^ "Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, PhD, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM". NITDA. Archived from the original on 16 July 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  15. ^ "ITU appoints Pantami as chairman of World Summit on Information Society Forum 2022". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 9 May 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  16. ^ "Terrorism Watchlist': Daily Independent Retracts, Apologises to Pantami". Economic Confidential. 14 April 2021. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  17. ^ RETRACTION: Publication of Daily Independent Story alleging Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Sheikh Isa Pantami placed on Terror watch-list for alleged ties with Boko Haram Leader Archived 18 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine, NewsWireNGR
  18. ^ FACT CHECK: Is Communication Minister Isa Pantami on U.S. terror watch list? Archived 28 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Premium Times
  19. ^ Erezi, Dennis (12 April 2021). "Pantami threatens to sue media platforms over alleged ties with Boko Haram". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  20. ^ Boko Haram terrorists are our Muslim brothers, shouldn’t be killed like pigs: Minister Pantami Archived 17 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Peoples Gazette
  21. ^ The CCI Occasional Papers. "Debating Boko Haram" (PDF). www.cci.uct.ac.za. Centre for Contemporary Islam, University of Cape Town. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  22. ^ Adebola, Ajayi (14 April 2021). "I support terrorist groups like Taliban, Al-Qaeda, not Boko Haram: Minister Pantami". Peoples Gazette. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  23. ^ Brigaglia, Andrea; Ibrahim, Musa; Abubakar Lamido, Abdullahi (March 2019). "Debating Boko Haram". Cci Occasional Papers: 14–20. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  24. ^ Oluwole, Victor (14 April 2021). "Nigerians demand the resignation of communication minister Isa Pantami over graft allegations of terrorism". Business Insider Africa. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  25. ^ Oyero, Kayode (16 April 2021). "#PantamiResign: Communications minister under fire over alleged link with terrorists". The Punch. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  26. ^ Ibrahim, Idris (16 April 2021). "My personal driver a Christian, I am not a terrorist: Minister Pantami". Peoples Gazette. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  27. ^ Essien, Hillary (17 April 2021). "Pantami's ministry trends hashtags defending minister's support for terrorists". Peoples Gazette. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  28. ^ Abiodun, Alao (17 April 2021). "Pantami's ministry trends hashtags defending minister's support for terrorists". The Nation. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  29. ^ Asadu, Chinedu (17 April 2021). "Pantami recants views on Al-Qaeda, insists he does not support terrorism". The Cable. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  30. ^ Asadu, Chinedu (18 April 2021). "Pro-Al-Qaeda views: PDP wants Pantami sacked and probed by DSS". The Cable. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  31. ^ Olubajo, Oyindamola (20 April 2021). "Minister Pantami endorses fatwa directing his supporters to kill Deji Adeyanju". Peoples Gazette. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  32. ^ Olufemi, Alfred (20 April 2021). "Pantami says Facebook page hacked after reportedly raining curse on activist". Premium Times. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  33. ^ "Presidency speaks on Pantami's controversial past". Premium Times. 22 April 2021. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  34. ^ "EDITORIAL: Why Pantami Must Step Aside From Government". Premium Times. 4 May 2021. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  35. ^ "Reps minority leader demands Pantami's resignation". Premium Times. 21 April 2021. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  36. ^ "Isa Pantami comments and why Nigeria goment stand by Minister of Communication". BBC Pidgin. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  37. ^ "Alleged Terrorism: Pantami qualified to contest for election, says Senate". P.M. News. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  38. ^ admin (2 January 2024). "Skills Rather than Just Degrees?: Language, Literature at the Intersection of Digital Technology in the 21st Century (1)". Intervention. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  39. ^ Oladosu, Rahma (10 August 2022). "Cyber Security Initiatives for Securing a Country, by Fom Gyem". Economic Confidential. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  40. ^ "Pantami to unveil book on scholarly journey, personal experience". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 21 January 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
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