Spread the love
By Farooq A. Kperogi, @farooqkperogi
(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – This is a difficult column to write because although scores of people have importuned me to intervene in the controversy regarding Communication and Digital Economy Minister Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami’s utterances before he came into government, my wife, who knows Pantami is my friend, pleaded with me to stay out of it.
But I would be a hypocrite and betray the meaning of my name (and also my late father who taught me the meaning of my name when I was too young to fully grasp it and who never failed to remind me to live up to it) if I sidestep this consuming national controversy because it puts my friend in a bad light.
Pantami is my friend, but he can t be defended
tribuneonlineng.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tribuneonlineng.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Pantami is my friend, but he can t be defended - by Farooq Kperogi - NigerianMuse
nigerianmuse.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nigerianmuse.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
FACT CHECK: Is Communication Minister Isa Pantami on U.S. terror watch list?
There was a news report that the Nigerian minister was on the U.S. terror watch list.
CLAIM 1:
On April 12, a news site, Independent Newspaper, ran a story with the headline ‘Disquiet As America Places Nigerian Minister On Watch List.’ The piece claimed that communication minister, Isa Pantami, was “on the watch list of the America’s Intelligence Service.”
CLAIM 2:
A video shared by another news site, Newswire, alongside a freelance journalist, David Hundeyin, suggested that a 2006 debate between Mr Pantami and Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf, links him to the terror group.