By Basheer Luqman Olarewaju
The existence of human beings is of no doubt corroborates an age long ally with misdeeds. We live in a world where no one can boast of clean hands from mistakes, errors or even sins from the past. However, certain misdeeds are arguably unforgettable and unforgivable in Nigeria, most especially, if one should be vying for leadership position or you attain one plus performing brilliantly. To the performer, verbal onslaught, acerbic outpour of emotions, and caustic tirade would dominate different media outlets. Sometimes, it would be personally directed, other times it would be ethnically motivated and most times it would be bothered on mere propaganda, underlined by a grotesque desire to create mischief. Such is our political experience.
Politics, that inevitable indulgence of all earthly creation which emphasises power control, assumed a different dimension in Nigeria recently. I extend the frontiers of politics beyond humanity because politics is found in diverse areas where life exists. Those privileged to see the television channel, NatGeoWild, will agree that politics exists even in the jungle. However, human beings, in their claims to civilization, pretend to practice a developed variant of politics. But recent developments in Nigeria suggest that our brand of politics rarely exist in the books. Rather, it negates the basic principles of decency, defies all processes of deductive reasoning, but enthrones the rule of primitive desperation. Sometimes, I imagine that the occupants of non-human habitats, the ones we love to call animals, insects, aquatic elements and birds of the air will revel in mockery of their civilized, human counterparts.
Nigeria’s Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Ibrahim Isa Ali Pantami, has been battling in the pool of murky test that Nigeria’s politics can birth; steeped in controversy. Over the past months, both his loyalists and traducers are on their toes fighting hard on yesteryears things they said he did, and as some of them he insisted he didn’t do keep reverberating around him – thrusting him deep into the public space. This continues to project him gain optics as a man of a certain hue.
Sadly, until his appointment as a minister, not much was known about him and nobody cares about that. Now, he keeps picking the headlines, compelling his loyalists and traducers alike mobbing the newsstands to know what is next about him. Days ago, allegation of Pantami’s links with Boko Haram and Al- Qaeda leaders dominated a section of the media. Indeed, a newspaper and some online platforms had made the allegation.
His calumniator forged ahead to claim that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had placed him on its watch list. These scary allegations hauled the watching world into frenzy, forcing opinions to be sharply divided. The social media was mobbed by thousands who could not take any of the allegations. How could these be, they wondered. They kept baying for blood, calling for Pantami’s head. They wanted President Muhammadu Buhari to show him the exit door immediately if he was serious with governance.
Not satisfied, many were said to have hit the road to US Embassy in Abuja. Some sent in their inquiries – all seeking confirmation of what they were hearing. The embassy was said to have issued a terse statement saying: “Thank you for your inquiry; however, we defer all press inquiries on Minister Pantami to the FBI at [email protected].” Meanwhile, a section of people rose stoutly in Pantami’s defence, maintaining that he is such as clean guy who could not hurt even a fly, let alone doing things inimical to the peace and progress of the people and government of Nigeria.
The newspaper that published the alleged report had gone ahead to apologise to Minister Pantami after his lawyer, Karina Tunyan, SAN, demanded so. The newspaper said: “The minister mentioned in the story, Alhaji Isa Ali Ibrahim, also known as Sheikh Pantami, is not known to be on American Terror Watch List, nor is he linked to terror organisations. “We regret and sincerely apologise for the embarrassment our story has caused the honorable minister whom we hold in high regard.”
The questions are;
1. If Pantami’s 20 years back pounded yam could be this hot, do we have anyone with clear cupboard?
2. Should we say Issa Pantami is truly coming to Presidency — as being modelled by some quarters — as the the next VP together with the incumbent VP as the GCFR?
3. Should we agree to the fact that Pantami’s stance — “On the issue of NIN-SIM verification to fight insecurity, there is no going back. Our priority as government based on the provision of our Constitution 1999 (as amended) Section 14(2)b is security, not just economy. For sure, (there is) no going back at all” — is affecting the powers that be and his waxing muscle should be toned?
Recall that Pantami’s latest travail is coming on the heels of another self-made one: the burden he placed on Nigerians mandating everyone to register and obtain the National Identification Number (NIN) amid the onslaught on COVID-19. He wanted the citizens to comply with the directive before December 31, 2020. And they should proceed to link their numbers to their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN).
In particular, he ordered various networks to yank off every defaulter who could not obtain NIN from their network within the stated time. His action, many insisted, sent the misery of the catastrophic year 2020 going full circle.
Basheer writes from Ilorin, Kwara State.
