Despite the outcry of Nigerians calling for the removal of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami in connection with his once acclaimed stance on terrorist tendencies the Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday downplayed the calls by not discussing it at its meeting.
According to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the alleged link of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami with Al-Qaeda and Taliban some years back was not discussed at the meeting.
There have been calls for the Minister to resign his appointment as a result of his link with terrorist groups in the past.
Lai Mohammed, who briefed State House correspondents at the end of the council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the issue was not raised at the meeting. Pantami was not physically present at the meeting but he attended virtually from his office.
Fielding question on whether the council discussed the matter and whether the government was comfortable with its burden on its image, Alhaji Mohammed said that he is not going to go into the issue of whether the government is comfortable or not but will answer the question directly saying that it was not discussed at the council meeting.
Pantami, who had been embroiled in controversy over his unearthed comments endorsing both terrorist organizations, has, however, announced that he has renounced the views.
He said during his daily Ramadan lecture at Annor Mosque in Abuja last Saturday that he now knows better about some of the comments he made in the past. Pantami had posited that the campaign against him is politically motivated.
He remarked that For 15 years, he has moved around the country, educating people about the dangers of terrorism, explaining that he has travelled to Katsina, Gombe, Borno, Kano states and Difa in the Niger Republic to preach against terrorism.
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