On My Friendship with Pantami

[Farooq A. Kperogi]

Saturday, April 24, 2021

On My Friendship with Pantami

 By Farooq A. Kperogi

Twitter: @farooqkperogi

Supporters of Communications and Digital Economy Minister Dr. Isa Ali Pantami bewailed that my April 17 column titled “Pantami is My Friend, But He Can’t Be Defended” threw him under the bus and that I’m a “fake friend” and a snitch who isn’t even a “real Muslim.” But his critics said I wasn’t hard enough on him and that I gave him a wiggle room to extricate himself from his past toxic utterances because he is my friend.

At the core of these mutually opposed reactions to my column is a deeply transactional conception of friendship. Nigerians have been primed to understand “friendship,” particularly with powerful politicians, as a relationship that is lubricated by the dispensation of favors. 

So, people who said I “betrayed” Pantami probably think I failed to defend him in spite of the patronage I got from him, and people who said I was mild in my rebuke of his rhetorical embrace and promotion of wildly exclusivist rhetoric and terroristic incitements probably think I did so because I had a need to justify the patronage I got from him.

But let me make this clear: I have never physically met Pantami in my entire life and have never asked for nor received a single favor from him since he has been in government. My relationship with him started on May 29, 2011 when he sent me a friend request on Facebook.

When I accepted his friendship, I had not the faintest clue who he was. His first message to me on June 25, 2011 was an expression of admiration for my writing. “I really appreciate your pen in most cases,” he wrote. “I hope you will try and maintain the tempo of your objectivity. May Allah continue to albarkate your life. Ameen.”

As a linguistics aficionado and a connoisseur of lexical inventiveness, I loved the word “albarkate” because it made an English word out of “albarka,” the Hausa word for blessing, which is itself derived from the Arabic “barika” (ultimately from the Semitic root berakhah).

Even when our interactions morphed to the phone, I still had no idea who he was—to my shame, I admit, because he was a consequential cleric in the Hausaphone Muslim North at the time. Sometime in 2013, I got a little curious and decided to search his name on Google and came across a Facebook page dedicated to him. It had at least 150,000 likes at the time and featured his Hausa-language homilies.

I was struck by the number of likes the page had because social media hadn’t quite taken off in Nigeria as it has in the past few years. I later asked him if the page was his and he said it was set up and maintained by his students. His students? I was even more piqued.

So, I called a few friends I knew from the Gombe/Bauchi axis and asked what they knew about a Sheikh Isa Ali Pantami. I learned from them that he was an infant prodigy who memorized the Qur’an before he was 13 and who was also a math whiz kid.  

A Hafiz (as Qur’an memorizers are called) who is also a mathematical wizard? That was interesting. But why did he not tell me who he was? Was he being modest? Or did he think I should have known?

Interestingly, he hardly discussed religion with me. Our conservations often centered on family and occasionally on my writing, and he was almost always the initiator. I saw him as someone who genuinely admired my work.

In 2014, he received his PhD in Computer Information Systems from UK’s Robert Gordon University and moved to Saudi Arabia as an assistant professor of Computer Science and Information Technology at the Islamic University of Madinah. When he would call me from Madinah, he would give the phone to his son, Abdulrahman, and his wife to say hello to me.

When Muhammadu Buhari offered him a job as Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in 2016, he sought my opinion. And before his name was formally announced as minister, he called to tell me I was one of 10 people whose approval he wanted before accepting the position. Of course, I was flattered, but I knew my opinion wouldn’t change anything. 

In spite of being close to Buhari, he had never requested that I stopped criticizing the government in which he served. He only appealed to me to use a milder tone in my criticisms if I could. I promised I would try but never delivered on my promise. 

One day he called and said he had just come to terms with the fact that I was like Caliph Umar Bin Khattab (who was nicknamed “Farooq,” meaning one who distinguishes truth from falsehood—after whom my dad named me). He had a reputation for brutal, unsparing fierceness in his truth telling. Pantami promised he would never again ask me to be whom I am not. 

People who are familiar with my relationship with him have asked why I’ve never derived any material benefit from it. Well, I don’t think friendship should always be transactional. He initiated friendship with me out of his appreciation for my writing, and I admired what struck me at the time as his humility in spite of his fame. Not much else connects us.

In 2016, during a conversation while he was still in Saudi Arabia, I told him of a half-brother of mine who wanted to get married but had no job, and he offered to reach out to his friends to help. He did make two attempts, and carbon-copied me in his email communications, but none worked out.

When he became DG of NITDA, my brother pressed him but didn’t have any success. And when his name was announced as minister in 2019, my brother pleaded with me to talk to Pantami on his behalf, believing that he didn’t help because I didn’t request it. I didn’t. 

As a rule, when people I know get into government, I give them a wide berth both to avoid compromise and to not be one extra burden they have to deal with. This principle has alienated me from family and friends. But I’d rather have it that way.

I am bringing all this to light to let people know the nature of my relationship with Pantami so they can understand the context of my relationship with him. I was never aware of his previous extremist views that became public knowledge in the last few days. I am not indebted to him for any favor of any kind. I am only privileged to know a side of him that most people who heard and watched his incendiary homilies don’t.

As I told an interlocutor a few days ago, every human being embodies a multiplicity of personas. For example, Black America’s Malcolm X was a fierce, fiery, electrifying, and uncompromising orator who gave white folks the jitters, but he was timid, almost diffident, even-tempered, and overly polite in private, according to his biographers. Who was the real Malcolm X? The hothead in public or the quiet man in private?

People who know me only through my public commentaries also think I'm a grouchy, fire-eating hulk with an intemperate rage, but people who know me in private know me as a slight, compulsively smiling, mild-mannered introvert, and can't reconcile my public persona with my private one.

Of course, I didn’t bring up Pantami's other side to obscure his clearly condemnable past utterances in support of terrorism (because nothing at all can attenuate that), but to show why I could be on friendly terms with him in the times that I've known him.

An otherwise acerbic critic who took issue with my last column for not being hard enough on Pantami expressed his disagreements with me in the mildest and pleasantest tone I’ve seen him deploy on Facebook when he disagrees. I asked why he didn’t curse me like others were doing, and he said, “it’s because you’re not just a friend, but a brother.”

I have never met this person in real life and he actually deployed “brother” as an affectionately fictive kinship term (because we don’t even share the same ethnicity). So, I asked why he expected me to be different to Pantami in my criticism of his past. He got the point.

As Oscar Wilde said, “I write because it gives me the greatest possible artistic pleasure to write. If my work pleases the few, I am gratified. If it does not, it causes me no pain. As for the mob, I have no desire to be a popular [writer]. It is far too easy.”

Related Articles:

Pantami is My Friend, But He Can’t Be Defended

When You Piss Off Two Extremist Groups on Opposite Ends

Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.

School of Communication & Media

Social Science Building 

Room 5092 MD 2207

402 Bartow Avenue
Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw, Georgia, USA 30144
Cell: (+1) 404-573-9697
Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com

Twitter: @farooqkperogi

Author of Glocal English: The Changing Face and Forms of Nigerian English in a Global World

Nigeria's Digital Diaspora: Citizen Media, Democracy, and Participation

"The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will

[Obuzor Enebeli]

I am a great admirer of yours but after reading your writeup, I have reached a conclusion that you must be investigated.

If Nigeria was a sane place, I would have recommended you be investigated. But nevertheless you must to be investigated by USA.

My instinct tells me something is wrong. You are hiding something. May the spiritual forces expose the matter. 

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

God have mercy.

When shall we be free of this problem?

You are in bed with people of an orientation diametrically opposed to yours.

How will you grow?

Fine article from Farooq, further helping to humanize into almost harmlessness a person whose history dramatizes the terrorist credentials of the Buhari government.

Why, in the name of God, should such a sensitive job be given to such a controversial person whose real allegiances are not truly known, his verbal claims that he is reformed being the only evidence for his claims of reform and claims from supporters, conveniently appearing  now that a person who may be realistically understood as a time bomb has been handed Nigeria's communications infrastructure?

A maths whiz. Really? PhD in Computer Information Systems. Hmmmm. Former Assistant Professor of Information Science and Technology, in Saudi Arabi. Interesting.

And in the midst of all this he was an outspoken terrorist ideologue?

There exist many Nigerians who have achieved that and more and have no relationship of any kind with any kind of terrorism, at any point of their lives.

Certain orientations at any point in a person's life should disqualify the person from public office. Terrorist orientations, and of the fervid kind that have been demonstrated by Pantami, are particularly dangerous because they constitute a deeply ingrained world view, rooted in the vision of those outside one's orbit as less than human, such attitudes particularly strong in Islamic extremism, the most virulent in today's world. 

When will the constituent parts of this country go their separate ways?

Those for whom a terrorist of such ferocity as evident in his adulthood can become a manager of their information systems should go their own way.

Those for whom such attitudes are anathema should go their own way.

Those for whom the murder soaked terrorist campaign by Fulani herdsmen are no more than farmer/herdsmen clashes should go their own way.

I have had some friends from the Muslim North. Superb people.

But there is a vast difference between individual orientations, individual interpersonal relationships and regional ideologies and mindsets.

The culture of the Muslim North is a largely ethno-religiously supremacist and unstable culture. The region is likely to be in trouble for a long time and to continually export that trouble to the rest of Nigeria as long as the following conditions persist-

1. Sustaining a culture of religious extremism

2. Sustaining a culture of replacing material and educational development with feudalistic attitudes

3. Sustaining a culture of ethnic and religious triumphalism  and exceptionalism

4. Sustaining a culture of absolute desperation in politics

5. Sustaining such regressive practices as child marriages., often in the name of Islam

6. Accommodating terrorism.

I doubt if any of these will change in a hurry because the power base of the religious/political elite of the Muslim North seems grounded on these  atavisms.

Meanwhile, please, those who do not have a record of killing people for not sharing the same religion or ethnicity should be allowed to go their way.

Pantami belongs to an Islamic republic where his terrorist history and the possible  encrustation of that culture remaining concealed within him is not a problem. 

For managers of their communications infrastructure, the other parts of what is now Nigeria need   people like Kunle Olukotun, professor of computer science at Stanford and founder of Afara WebSystems, Shola Akinade and Ezra Olubi,  co-founders of the online payment system Paystack,   Iyinoluwa Aboyeyi and  Olugbenga Agboola,   founders of the global reach payment system Flutterwave,     other Nigerian youth who have created innovations in information technology and those who ran the amazing digital financial network of the ENDSARS protests, Damilola Odufuwa, Odunayo Eweniyi and Feyikemi 'FK' Abudu.

Those other Nigerians  need to move beyond being subordinated to forces openly sustaining  terrorism, such as the Buhari govt,  their civil society arm Miyetti Allah and people like professor Labdo arguing that Benue belongs to the Fulani by right of conquest, those    plausibly associated with terrorism, such as Pantami and those Northern governors arguing Fulani herdsmen can settle anywhere in Nigeria.

We need freedom from this nonsense.

We have had more than enough.

The Usman dan Fodio originated kind of Islam is dangerous to the rest of Nigeria.

Others are going to Mars and transforming the Martian atmosphere to oxygen fit for humans to breathe, yet terrorist strategies using Fulani herdsmen and associations with terrorism by appointing a minster with a deep terrorist culture as an adult is what we battling with. 

toyin

--

[Terngu S. Nomishan]

I think Farooq need to read this write up by Femi Fani Kayode👇👇

A COLD-BLOODED BEAST CALLED ISA PANTAMI

I am glad that a young, brilliant and deeply courageous freelance journalist by the name of David Hundeyin thoroughly thrashed, disgraced and removed the pants of a shameless ignoramus, bumbling fool and decrepit imbecile called Kabir Bako on Channels Televisions' 'Politics Today' last night.

The latter had attempted to defend the indefensible by seeking to justify and rationalise the despicable and totally unacceptable submissions and actions of the embattled Minister of Communications, Sheik Isa Pantami. 

I considered giving Pantami a soft landing a few days ago and opted to forgive him for his offensive, dangerous and repugnant vituperations only because he had publicly expressed his regrets but this is no longer the case because his expression of remorse was clearly not genuine or heart-felt. 

If it was he would not have sent Kabir to Channels Television to defend those vituperations. The matter was made worse by the fact that the man spoke utter rubbish and sounded little better than a village idiot. 

 

Now that his friends and supporters are attempting to justify and rationalise what he has said and done, I am free to speak my mind about Pantami and this short contribution serves only as the first shot. More will come later. 

For him to publicly express the fact that he is "happy" when those he described as "unbelievers" are murdered reflects his homicidal, sociopathic and psychotic mind-set and is not only indefensible but also unforgivable. 

And there is so much more that he has said and done, including his allgeged participation in a frightful event in Bauchi state a few years ago which allegedly resulted in the tragic death of a young Christian student and which I will write about at a later stage. 

Simply put the Minister is a hater of Christians and non-Muslims. He is a religious bigot, an ethnic supremacist, an unrepentant jihadist, a lover of bloodshed, carnage and terror and a psychopathic and clearly insane induvidual who may well have been responsible for the slaughter of many innocent Christians over the years as a consequence of his inflammatory rhetoric and reckless actions. 

His attempt to defend his evil ways and justify them by sending out idiots like Kabo to speak for him disgusts me. In any case if he had the courage of his convictions why can't he speak for himself? 

Does he not owe himself that much? Is he a coward? Does he not have guts? Is he scared of a real fight?

It appears that behind all the bravado he is nothing but a chicken-hearted little quisling who is terrified of his own shadow and who cannot stand the heat of public discourse. 

Whatever is behind his cowardly disposition and reluctance to stand up for himself like a man one thing is clear: not only should he resign or be dumped as a Minister but he also ought to be arrested and sent to Nigeria's equivalent of Guantanamo Bay which is a special facility for terrorists, built by the British Government a few years ago, in Kuje Prison in Abuja. 

This self-seeking and fanatical monster and cold-blooded and heartless beast who regards himself as a high standing member of our community and who constantly and disrespectfully refers to Christians as "unbelievers" should be arrested by the authorities like a common criminal, stripped naked, put in chains, placed in a tiny monkey cage, paraded before the public, tried in a court of law and made to spend the rest of his sorry life in that facility for his undying and remorseless support and love for terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda and the Taliban. 

Worse of all is the very serious allegation that some of those that have called him out have had their lives threatened and that fatwas have been issued on them by both the Minister and his supporters. 

Building bridges across religious, regional and ethnic  lines and seeking to establish the peace between hitherto hostile groups and warring factions in our country does not include tolerating the presecence of or fellowship with those who seek to kill our people, wipe out our Christian faith, destroy our values and norms and change our way of life. 

No single religion can lord it over another in our country because ours is a secular state with constitutional guarantees for members of all faiths. 

I utterly despise those extremists that think and behave like Pantami and I have nothing but sheer contempt for all that they stand for and seek to achieve.

The days of butchering, threatening, talking down to and insulting Christians in our country are long over and those that habitually indulge in such things must have a rethink before it is too late. 

I consider the millions that have been slaughtered in the East, West, Middle Belt and core North in the name of jihad and sectarian violence over the last 60 years and I shudder with anger and disbelief. 

I remember Gideon Akaluka who was beheaded in Kano many years ago, the young female RCCG Pastor who was murdered in the streets of Abuja for preaching the gospel a few years back, the 800 innocent souls that were butchered in their homes in Southern Kaduna on Christmas day in 2016, the thousands that were slaughtered in Plateau, Kano, Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Gombe, Borno, Bauchi and so many other places over the years, the hundreds of thousands that were subjected to pogroms in the North in 1966 just before the civil war and the millions that were subjected to genocide and ethnic cleansing during that war. And there is so much more. 

These ugly and sad events are indelibly entrenched in the minds, hearts, bodies, spirits and souls of millions of Christians in our country and the fact that, in accordance with the dictates of our faith, we are constrained to forgive and turn the other cheek must never be misconstrued for stupidity or weakness. 

We remember every single one of those that achieved martyrdom and that were cut short for their faith and in our hearts we still mourn them. The fact that they died in Christ and are therefore with the Lord in paradise is our only consolation. 

We also remember those that suffered and are still suffering untold hardship and persecution simply because they are followers of Christ and we do so with much pain and regret. 

Yet let me say this loud and clear: enough is enough! The mass murder, religious cleansing and endless, godless blood-lettting that we have witnessed over the years against Christians cannot and must not continue. 

The Christians of Nigeria are no longer prepared to be anyone's sacrificial lamb or whipping boy. The people of Nigeria are no longer prepared to accept religious extremism or intolerance. 

Both the Muslims and Christians of Nigeria must all be protected and treated fairly and equally under the law and neither must be killed or persecuted for their faith. There is no room for fundamentalism on either side. 

I have as much contempt and hatred for a Christian that kills Muslims simply because he does not share his faith as I do for a Muslim that kills Christians for the same reason. 

Religious intolerance is primitive, barbaric, antedelluvian and archaic  Those that suffer from that affliction do not deserve to be called Nigerians and they should do us a favour by moving elsewhere. 

The good news is that the Muslims in our country that think like Pantami are relatively few. They do not represent the mainstream Muslims of Nigeria and neither do they represent the North. They represent only the Islamist terrorists of Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Al Shabab, ISIS and the Taliban. 

They are also ideologically coupled and embedded with the foreign Fulani terrorists and bandits that have plagued our land, that are killing our people, that are tormenting our farmers, that are raping our women and that have a strange and inexplicable affection for cows. 

Not only is the cold-blooded beast called Pantami not fit to be a Minister of the Federal Republic but he is also not fit to walk our streets freely because he presents a grave danger to our people and our society.

The sooner he is dropped from President Buhari's cabinet like a hot potatoe and brought to justice the better. The world is watching.

(FFK)

Terngu S. Nomishan
Department of Archaeology and Museum Studies,
Federal University Lokoja.
P.M.B 1154, Lokoja,
Kogi State, Nigeria.
www.fulokoja.edu.ng
Tel.: +234 805 106 5128

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Who are you referring to Ubuzor and why do you think so?

Toyin

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[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

Toyin Adepoju:

Farooq's claim that he has sought no favors from Pantami in the past ( and does not believe in such culture) is at best disingenuous ( so much for a ' fine article'.)

By Farooq's own admission in this article he did just that in 2016 from Pantami; only that Pantami did not deliver.  Had he delivered, only God knows what Farooq would have said now with Pantami citing Farooq caught with his hand in the till.  So despite all the anti corruption bravado by Farooq over the years, he is not much different from the average Nigerian ( its only a difference of degrees and not of kind.)  I wish he actually was exactly whom he projected himself to be.  But there we go; this shows shared human limitations exposed by filial duties.

Toyin Adepoju, Nigeria is a democracy; if Buhari is the problem causing all the problems you highlight, his stay is limited but for just two more years.  Nigeria, as an entity, can re- arm for the next dispensation.  It doesnt have to be the mantra of ' go their own ways' which you continually recite at the drop of the hat.  Most Nigerians dont share your vision.

What you should join hands with others to evolve is a workable process of selecting and electing leaders so the truly best candidate emerges into the national sphere.

Pantami's antecedents should have signalled  red herrings in his appointment to national office.  Both Buhari and the National Assembly -which validated the appointment, and is made up of members from across the country and not just the Muslim North- are to blame ( and not just Buhari and the Muslim North.)

At least the National Assemly has a national security committee.

Left to Buhari, he would put believers in Muslim North Islam in all sensitive positions.  It is left for the National Assembly to twist his arm backwards as they did with Magu ( only the case of Magu was conducted with selfish interests of and malicious intent by Assembly members.)  

Buhari was especially interested in Pantami's antecedent links to Saudi Arabia -whose Islamic culture Buhari revers, as the home of Islam- and on whom he thought he could rely to tame the use of social media as propaganda tool against government.

  The NASS should not have approved Pantami as they should not have approved Buhari's appointment of the NNPC current helmsman in view of the federal character breach of the Constitution, on national spread, which the Assembly members took an oath to protect and preserve, and which that last appointment breached.  But then party loyalty and party interests overrode national interests and national priorities.

In the final analysis, as I have always maintained, the character of a federal democracy is a reflection of the calibre of people in the legislature.

This is why come the next dispensation, in 2023, Nigeria needs a third party of government in waiting that will change the face of the membership of the National Assembly, as well as a  Presidential Council to replace the post of the president.  Then Nigeria will be healed.  That answers your question' when shall we be free of this problem?'

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

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Date: 24/04/2021 11:06 (GMT+00:00)

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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - On My Friendship with Pantami

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

a response to Farooq's posting of this piece on Facebook

Sesugh Akume

Pantami is no Malcolm X. This illustration using Malcolm X doesn't quite suit the circumstance neatly, in my view.

When Malcolm X was an extremist his views were widely known not only to his fellow blacks but to all, the whites inclusive. Not Pantami whose hate-filled, inciting homilies are target at adherents in his Hausa-speaking Muslim north with its jihadist proclivities.

The fiery Malcolm X, as an Islamic teacher was against the broader issues of black-white relations, not the superiority of Islam over Christianity and so Christianity should be stopped from spreading by all means possible. His brand of fiery Islam was liberating not about killing others to spread Islam, as he rather used his preaching to win people over to Islam as he opened their eyes to the historic injustices of the white man.

When Malcolm X changed from a fiery extremist to a promoter of common humanity everybody knew. His turn around, epiphany, ‘road to Damascus’ experience was well known and documented. What was Pantami’s? Where are the records?

When Malcolm X became a changed man his message changed, and again it was obvious. He PUBLICLY recanted his previous teachings and advocacy, and became an advocate of peace, unity, brotherhood ACROSS races. It was an obvious and clear turn around. The records bear witness. Where are Pantami’s?

Just last week he endorsed a fatwa against Deji Adeyanju. When caught pants down and called out be lied that his verified Facebook account was hacked. He can safely keep his own Facebook account but wants to have the custody of the sensitive information of 200 million Nigerians, keeping his terrorist credentials.

Pantami is still a very, very, very dangerous man with terrorist credentials to boot, no matter how pleasant and admirable he may be in private. When Malcolm X was an extremist it didn't matter if he was polite, gentle, etc. So was Osama bin Laden. He was soft-spoken, quiet, reserved, tender, lovable, fragile looking. It changed nothing that he was a very dangerous man.

I could go on on why the Malcolm X part didn't quite suit this instance for me, but would leave it here.

Many on the other side of the divide who didn't like bringing in Osinbajo also thought the equivalence didn't quite suit the circumstance. Not all who thought so are necessarily extremists. I got the meaning, but they thought being a communications expert you were only cleverly throwing red meat to the dogs. And the jihadists did indeed try to latch up on it. They attempted taking it further bringing in CAN, Oritsejafor, etc to obfuscate a rather straightforward issue.

The issue here is, seeing as there is no PRIOR evidence of Pantami repenting from his terrorist inclination, he is a dangerous man, and CANNOT be a public office holder in a secular (non-theocratic) entity as Nigeria and must resign. Pantami being a minister undermines any pretence at Nigeria countering violent extremism. It further widens the fissures in the country. Garba Shehu’s insulting statement in behalf of the presidency only made things worse and Nigeria may never recover from this. It will be the Buhari regime's undoing and final albatross. All of these are visible already. This is what the 

Farooq Kperogi

 we know would have said, but for friendship, all safeguards to avoid this trap notwithstanding.

It's why I personally think it may have been a good idea to listen to your wife. I have learnt a lesson for myself to learn to listen and abide sometimes even if I don't agree. Wives possibly know their husbands more than the husbands do themselves, as my wife keeps telling me so about myself. I've had to admit from last Saturday.

****

My personal appeal is to not be allowed to stray further when I do. If/when I ever get into public office, I want to be told the plain truth. If it's time to resign, I'd rather those close to me told me so, instead of being loyal to me due to our friendship and arrange a ‘soft landing’ for me. This loyalty would destroy me instead.

I want to believe that had you asked Pantami to resign, and he had he done so, affirming that he had indeed changed but is unwilling to drag the country with his past, trust me, even the most fire-spitting hotheaded fanatic on the other side could have been won over. He'd have been washed of his past sins and forgiven. We Nigerians easily forgive and forget. We are that gullible.

In 2023, he'd have emerged (2023 is not far) and in the mean time could still have been somewhere close (even if with no official portfolio) directing things, to continue with whatever agenda it is he has.

Wisdom is profitable to direct.

#PantamiMustGo

On Sat, 24 Apr 2021 at 05:22, Farooq A. Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

The only honourable path for Pantami now is to resign tendering an unreserved apology to all Nigerians in order not to continue to constitute an intolerable embarrassment to government.

If the likes of Farooq consider themselves as any kind of friend, ( rather than try and disown him) this is the time they should reach out to him and let him know that there is no other viable alternative.

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

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Date: 24/04/2021 15:55 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - On My Friendship with Pantami

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Re - “Pantami is no Malcolm X. This illustration using Malcolm X doesn't quite suit the circumstance neatly, in my view.” (Sesugh Akume)

What a colossal misunderstanding! I suppose that this is another elementary exercise in reading comprehension. Subject to correction from the horse’s mouth, the unmistakable impression one gets from reading the excerpt quoted below is that as usual Kperogi is clearly talking about himself again, and - God forbid - it is he himself and not Dr. Pantami that he is comparing favourably with our Omolwale Malcolm X ( El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz when he ( Kperogi) writes

“People who know me only through my public commentaries also think I'm a grouchy, fire-eating man, but people who know me in private, as Oga Falola will testify, know me as a compulsively smiling introvert, and can't reconcile my public persona with my private persona.”

Humbly speaking about himself , this view of himself is repeated at greater length here at his Farooq Kperogi Fan Page :

“Farooq Kperogi is a mild-mannered, self-possessed, even-tempered, and somewhat introverted person. I know this self-characterization is at variance with my public persona. But this is true of most human beings. There is always a disjunction between people’s public persona and who they really are. I can’t tell you the number of times people who have met me after reading me for years say they’re taken aback by what they call my humility; they imagined that I was an arrogant, fire-spitting radical who would passionately disagree with them and stop them mid-sentence. They thought I was a cantankerous, venomous-tongued conversationalist who would not allow his interlocutors to get a word in edgeways, who would correct their grammar, and insist on being right all the time. In reality, I am mellow, gracious, a bit shy, and allow extroverted people to dominate conversations. I am talkative only when I meet overly introverted people because I hate the awkwardness of dull moments.” (From his The Farooq Kperogi Fan page 

[Seun Bamidele]

https://www.femifanikayode.org/a-cold-blooded-beast-called-isa-pantami/

On 4/24/21, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Re* - “*Pantami is no Malcolm X. This illustration using Malcolm X doesn't

> quite suit the circumstance neatly, in my view.” (Sesugh Akume)
>
> What a colossal misunderstanding! I suppose that this is another elementary
>
> exercise in reading comprehension. Subject to correction from the horse’s
> mouth, the unmistakable impression one gets from reading the excerpt quoted
>
> below is that as usual Kperogi is clearly talking about himself again, and
> - God forbid - it is he himself and not Dr. Pantami that he is comparing

> favourably with our Omolwale Malcolm X ( *El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
> <https://www.google.se/search?q=El-Hajj+Malik+El-Shabazz&newwindow=1&ei=To-EYIGUEOLMrgTi2InoBw&oq=El-Hajj+Malik+El-Shabazz&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAwyBQguEJMCMgQIABBDMgQIABBDMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB46AggAUNiGAVi1mwFgr9AJaAFwAHgAgAHKFIgB1RySAQsyLTEuNi0xLjktMZgBAKABAqABAaoBB2d3cy13aXrAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz&ved=0ahUKEwiB86-d65fwAhViposKHWJsAn0Q4dUDCA4>
>
> *when he ( Kperogi) writes

>
> “People who know me only through my public commentaries also think I'm a
> grouchy, fire-eating man, but people who know me in private, as Oga Falola
> will testify, know me as a compulsively smiling introvert, and can't
> reconcile my public persona with my private persona.”
>
> Humbly speaking about himself , this view of himself is repeated at greater
>
> length here at his Farooq Kperogi Fan Page :
>
> “Farooq Kperogi is a mild-mannered, self-possessed, even-tempered, and
> somewhat introverted person. I know this self-characterization is at
> variance with my public persona. But this is true of most human beings.
> There is always a disjunction between people’s public persona and who they
> really are. I can’t tell you the number of times people who have met me
> after reading me for years say they’re taken aback by what they call my
> humility; they imagined that I was an arrogant, fire-spitting radical who
> would passionately disagree with them and stop them mid-sentence. They
> thought I was a cantankerous, venomous-tongued conversationalist who would
> not allow his interlocutors to get a word in edgeways, who would correct
> their grammar, and insist on being right all the time. In reality, I am
> mellow, gracious, a bit shy, and allow extroverted people to dominate
> conversations. I am talkative only when I meet overly introverted people

> because I hate the awkwardness of dull moments.” (From his *The Farooq
> Kperogi Fan pag*
> <https://www.facebook.com/groups/63277488504/permalink/10157346039313505/>e

>
>
>
> On Saturday, 24 April 2021 at 16:44:29 UTC+2 ovdepoju wrote:
>
>> a response to Farooq's posting of this piece on Facebook

>> <https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogi/posts/10105376438207010?comment_id=10105376582073700&__cft__[0]=AZXdZDBOZzAO0qgJsoqhMHoa-HIMTCcBlhYA7bnaM3aHIIY7ouDAVBpck2SRD1CKNptx8iMvknt1XLERthtpiNiEXcyFf1On9o8kqttgI17y2Gi7EcOglmmSDQ5sxqzlJME&__tn__=R]-R>
>>
>> Sesugh Akume
>> <https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006449895637&comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDEwNTM3NjQzODIwNzAxMF8xMDEwNTM3NjU4MjA3MzcwMA%3D%3D&__cft__[0]=AZXdZDBOZzAO0qgJsoqhMHoa-HIMTCcBlhYA7bnaM3aHIIY7ouDAVBpck2SRD1CKNptx8iMvknt1XLERthtpiNiEXcyFf1On9o8kqttgI17y2Gi7EcOglmmSDQ5sxqzlJME&__tn__=R]-R>

>> <https://www.facebook.com/farooqkperogi?__cft__[0]=AZXdZDBOZzAO0qgJsoqhMHoa-HIMTCcBlhYA7bnaM3aHIIY7ouDAVBpck2SRD1CKNptx8iMvknt1XLERthtpiNiEXcyFf1On9o8kqttgI17y2Gi7EcOglmmSDQ5sxqzlJME&__tn__=R]-R>

>>> <https://www.farooqkperogi.com/2021/04/on-my-friendship-with-pantami.html>
>>>
>>> * By Farooq A. Kperogi*
>>>
>>> *Twitter: @farooqkperogi <https://twitter.com/farooqkperogi>*

>>>
>>> Supporters of Communications and Digital Economy Minister Dr. Isa Ali
>>> Pantami bewailed that my April 17 column titled “Pantami is My Friend,
>>> But He Can’t Be Defended”

>>> <https://www.farooqkperogi.com/2021/04/pantami-is-my-friend-but-he-cant-be.html>

>>> threw
>>> him under the bus and that I’m a “fake friend” and a snitch who isn’t
>>> even
>>> a “real Muslim.” But his critics said I wasn’t hard enough on him and
>>> that
>>> I gave him a wiggle room to extricate himself from his past toxic
>>> utterances because he is my friend.
>>>
>>> At the core of these mutually opposed reactions to my column is a deeply
>>>
>>> transactional conception of friendship. Nigerians have been primed to
>>> understand “friendship,” particularly with powerful politicians, as a
>>> relationship that is lubricated by the dispensation of favors.
>>>

>>> <https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6k20SxMmqk8/YINXh2rqI8I/AAAAAAAAb0g/KltZwFLlhg4lyxCGB1M9bctAGDEh4r1AACLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/Dr%2BIsa%2BAli%2BPantami.jpg>

>>> *Related Articles:*
>>>
>>> *Pantami is My Friend, But He Can’t Be Defended
>>> <https://www.farooqkperogi.com/2021/04/pantami-is-my-friend-but-he-cant-be.html>*
>>>
>>> *When You Piss Off Two Extremist Groups on Opposite Ends
>>> <https://www.farooqkperogi.com/2021/04/when-you-piss-off-two-extremist-groups.html>*

>>> Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.
>>> School of Communication & Media
>>> Social Science Building
>>> Room 5092 MD 2207
>>> 402 Bartow Avenue
>>> Kennesaw State University
>>> Kennesaw, Georgia, USA 30144

>>> Cell: (+1) 404-573-9697 <(404)%20573-9697>
>>> Personal website: www.farooqkperogi.com
>>> <http://www.farooqkperogi.blogspot.com>
>>> Twitter: @farooqkperog <https://twitter.com/#%21/farooqkperogi>i
>>> Author of *Glocal English: The Changing Face and Forms of Nigerian

>>> English in a Global World

>>> <http://www.amazon.com/Glocal-English-Changing-Linguistics-Semiotics/dp/1433129264/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436569864&sr=1-1>*
>>>
>>> *Nigeria's Digital Diaspora: Citizen Media, Democracy, and Participation
>>>
>>> <https://www.amazon.com/Nigerias-Digital-Diaspora-Democracy-Participation/dp/1580469825>*

>>> "The nice thing about pessimism is that you are constantly being either
>>> proven right or pleasantly surprised." G. F. Will
>>>
>>> --
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>>>

>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAPq-FWtLLWSVaZPgGsQ_bds-gDMyCdcXxtzFLc%3DLXb-EimxRRA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
>>> .

>>>
>>
>
> --
> Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
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>


--
I will not trust anybody who respect, adore or is nice to me but rude
to a waiter, gateman, cook or cleaner because they will treat me the
same way if I were in such position.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

It’s a relief that you are not arguing on behalf of illusions of grandeur attempting to elevate himself to the same nice guy level as our Omowale, Brother Malcolm who is beyond comparison.

But to the meat of the matter: This Holy Month of Ramadan is not the best time for all and sundry to so wrongfully vilify Dr. Pantami. Ramadan is known as “The Month of Mercy”

To begin with, we have to understand where Chief Femi Fani-Kayode himself usually mired in controversy, is coming from and why he says of Dr. Pantami, “his expression of remorse was clearly not genuine or heart-felt.” 

Really? How does he know that with any degree or certainty? A man does tawba, first and foremost to the Almighty - and if it is man that he has offended he apologises to man - but Chief Fani-Kayode playing Ogun, insists that Dr. Pantami’s apologies are unacceptable, that “ his expression of remorse was clearly not genuine or heart-felt.” Perhaps, like Disbelieving Thomas who had to insert his fingers into the resurrected Jesus’ wounds to confirm that it was indeed the same Jesus that had resurrected so too Big Chief Fani-Kayode would like to do some heart surgery on Dr. Pantami – to examine his heart and if possible research the innermost recesses of Dr. Pantami’s conscience in order to issue and sign the verification certificate which proclaims, “Verily, Dr. Pantami’s expression of remorse is genuine and heartfelt!”

As we all know, Fani-Kayode has his own perpetual axe to grind, first and foremost, daggers drawn as soon as his nostrils catch the faintest whiff of militant Islam in Nigeria (even when for his own good Islam seeks to liberate him from worldly mental shackles and from fears of an eternal abode in the hell-fire).

Understandably too, of late as a charlatan prophet Chief Fani-Kayode’s frustration has been increasing steadily, especially after his prophesy that his dearest Trump was going to sweep the US Presidential Elections by a landslide came to zilch. Fake Prophet Femi-Fani-Kayode. If Trump had won, right now the Chief would have been beating his chest “vindicated”, prophecy happily fulfilled would have raised his status ( “real prophet”) and thereby raised his game, as Trump’s Number One Supporter in Trump’s “ shit-hole” country and that could have got him trotting off to ask Massa for special favours such as please help him and his party win in our Nigeria and that he would promise to remain faithful to Uncle Sam and certainly, never to China.

Right now, perennial opportunist that he is said to be (by some cynical Naija media analysts) he is trying to position himself for a possible ministerial appointment in the next government, the post-Buhari era which he prays will inaugurate the party that he would like to latch on to, in search of a brighter future and of course the best way he thinks that he can do that is by grabbing some attention with this brief moment in the limelight with this stinking, venomous & noxious lambasting of Federal Nigeria's current Honourable And Very Able Minister of Communications and the Digital Economy.

Because of the forum etiquette that’s being maintained by our chief language sanitary inspector, I for one would not stoop as low as to employ the same kind of derogatory drivel that in this instance is Chief Fani-Katode’s forte: So, we leave it to the verbal pugilists outside of this forum to give the Chief a good drubbing, sometime after the Holy Month of Ramadan.

The sad news for the big chief is that Dr Pantami is not on any U.S. watch list for terrorism

[Salimonu Kadiri]

​Nigeria is a secular nation and it is firmly entrenched in Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution that neither the Federal nor a State Government in Nigeria shall ever adopt any religion as a State Religion. If we deconstruct the myths around the practice of religion in Nigeria, Dr Alhaji Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami's religious belief has nothing to do with his official position, first as Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in 2016, and now as Minister of Communication and Digital Economy from 2019. Dr Alhaji Pantami knows quite well that Information Technology as well as Communication and Digital Economy cannot be conjured forth by chanting verses of Quran. Nigeria is not governed by the contents of the Bible or Quran. Since 2016, when Dr Alhaji Pantami became a public official, there has not been any complaint against him for prioritising his religion over his official duty. However, his past religious utterances resurfaced recently when a Nigerian newspaper, the Daily Independence of Sunday, April 11, 2021, alleged that Dr Alhaji Pantami had ties with Abu Quata-da al Falasimi and other Al-Quaeda leaders. The allegation which was based on past You Tube's recorded utterances of Pantemi was said to have caused the US to place him on Terror Watch List.

However, the online Sahara reporters reported on 23 April 2021, that the Daily Independent newspaper through his editor had retracted its story and apologised to Dr Alhaji Pantami in writing thus, "Our attention has been drawn to the story with the above title published in the Sunday Independent newspaper of April 11, 2021. We have since realized that the information contained in the story has not been verified to be true. 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 Honourable Minister whom we hold in high regard." If one takes into consideration that Dr Alhaji Pantami himself had claimed that his You Tube utterances under reference were made at the age of immaturity and which he now regrets, then there is nothing left to hang him for. But ethno-religious baiters and primordial sentimentalists who are always unobjective and truthless; professors who turn not only to prophets seeing and predicting disasters but working strenuously to see their predicted disasters come true will never let Pantami be in peace. 

Let's recall that on Saturday, 17 April 2021, Farooq told his readers that "Pantami is my friend but he can't be defended." Yet, he turned round to defend Pantami thus, "Nevertheless, while I denounce Pantami's past embrace of extremism in his public preaching, I want to point out that there is a vast disjunction between his rhetoric and his person. People who know him outside the pulpit attest to his compassion, kindness and peacefulness." Since Farooq Kperogi is not the one attesting to Pantami's compassion, kindness and peacefulness outside the pulpit, we can at best be rest assured that Professor Farooq Kperogi, this time around, is engaged in adulatory and not malicious gossip against Pantami. Interestingly, Farooq failed to mention, at least, one name out of those who issued verbal testimonials to him on Pantami. A week later, Saturday, April 24, 2021, Farooq Kperogi felt compelled to explain his acquittance with Pantami thus, "But let me make this clear : I have never physically met Pantami in my life .... My relationship with him started on May 29, 2011 when he sent me a friendly request on Facebook. When I accepted his friendship, I had not the faintest clue who he was." Despite being a friend of Pantami for almost 11 years, according to Farooq, he, Pantami, has never asked him to stop criticizing Buhari. Pantami only appealed to him to use milder tone in criticizing Buhari. Can one sensibly call most of what Farooq Kperogi had been writing about Buhari criticism or pure defamation of character?

As a follower of Buhari's government, I agree that there are lots of things to criticize but if we sift shafts from the wheat we shall discover that most of Farooq Kperogi's writings on Buhari are defamatory and criminal which he wrongly termed criticisms. On Saturday, 22 October 2016, Farooq wrote among other things, "...... although Aisha is formally married to President Buhari, she is actually isolated from him. This is consistent with what I've heard from inside sources about the relationship between the first couple."  Which inside sources was Farooq referring to that had gossiped to him about the relationship between Buhari and his wife? In what sense did the malicious gossip constitute criticism of Buhari's government? 

On Saturday, January 19, 2019, Farooq declared, "Aso Rock insiders say Buhari doesn't remember anything, so no one obeys his instructions - if he gives any at all. Someone from the Presidential Villa told me it's precisely because of this fact that governors frequent the Villa several times a week ..... Buhari appears infirm both in mind and in body." Who are the Aso Rock insiders that informed Farooq that Buhari doesn't remember anything and who is the someone in the Presidential Villa that told Farooq the reason why governors visit the Villa frequently? How could Farooq know, from Atlanta, that Buhari appears infirm both in mind and in body when they did not meet in person? In what sense did Farooq's unprofessional medical diagnosis of Buhari's ill-health constitute criticism of his government? 

On Saturday,  December 14, 2019, the chest-thumping Farooq wrote, "When I publicly voiced my concerns in 2018 that Muhammadu Buhari was too cognitively and physically ill to have the capacity to govern Nigeria ...... some people didn't believe me. Buhari is too weighed down by dementia and physical infirmity to even control his immediate family, let alone rule a country of nearly 200 million people. ...//... For selfish reasons, Aisha won't reveal the true state of her husband's mental and physical health..." Is the forecited, a criticism of Buhari's government or handiwork of a quack doctor?

 On March 21, 2020, in his Coronavirus: Why Buhari Won't Address Nigerians, Farooq asserted, "Buhari is not well. A televised broadcast, however short, might expose and aggrandize this fact more forcefully than ever before. ....//.... People who have had a chance to interact recently also concede that Buhari appears to be wracked by an irreversible mental decline and loss of control." Who were the people that told Farooq that Buhari appeared to be wracked by an irreversible mental decline and loss of control? However, to the disappointment of the prophet who prophesized that rain would not fall, rain fell and Buhari made a live television broadcast on Sunday, 22 March 2021 about Coronavirus surge in the world, including Nigeria. On the same day, Farooq exploded thus, "After so much pressure, which my widely shared Saturday Tribune back-page column added to, the Aso Rock cabal finally forced Buhari, a dementia-plagued, insentient old geezer who masquerades as 'president' to address the nation today on the new Coronavirus." Reacting to the tone of Farooq's submission, Kenneth Harrow on Monday, March 23, 2020, wrote that if Farooq had written what he wrote about Buhari on Presidents of Rwanda, Burundi or DRC, he would be dead or be in prison. The quack doctor responded, "If I lived in Nigeria, the same fate that befell Burundi journalists might have befallen me too. The government has mulled (actually planned, according to insiders who revealed this to me) assassinating me here in the US." In defaming and dishonouring Buhari and his wife, Farooq has always referred to unnamed sources within the Government and the Presidential Villa of supplying to him the defamatory and dishonourable information about the first couple. We now know through Farooq Kperogi's claim that Dr Alhaji Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami who has been in the government since 2016, has also been his (Farooq's) friend since 2011. Could Dr Alhaji Pantami have been one of the sources that Farooq frequently referred to as his suppliers of negative information about Buhari's health, his wife and the government? If Pantami in the present circumstance can confirm his friendship with Farooq Kperogi, he, Pantami, should be sacked immediately if he does not resign voluntarily.

Comparing himself and Pantami with Malcolm X, who was described by his biographers as timid, almost diffident, even-tempered and overtly polite in private, Farooq Kperogi wrote, "People who know me only through my public commentaries also think I'm a grouchy, fire-eating hulk with an intemperate rage, but people who know me in private know me as slight, compulsively smiling, mild-mannered introvert, and can't reconcile my public persona with my private one." Malcolm X was a product of institutionalised racism in the US and when he started protesting against racism of which he and fellow Black Americans were victims, the racists branded him an extremist. In fact, Malcolm did not need any biographers to attest to his level-headedness if one reads through his speeches. It is a well-known fact that Malcolm X converted to Muslim and adopted Islam as his religion while in prison. Contrary to the impression given by Farooq that Malcom X was an extremist and anti-white people, I hereby endeavour to cull some excerpts from his speeches.

In his message to the grass roots in 1963, Malcolm X as a Muslim, said among other things, "There is nothing in our book, the Koran, that teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts its hand on you, send him to the cemetery. That's a good religion. That's the one that Ma and Pa used to talk about: an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and a head for a head, and a life for a life. That's a good religion. And nobody resents that kind of religion being taught but a wolf, who intends to make you his meal. This is the way it is with the white man in America. He's a wolf - and you're sheep (p.12-13, MalcomX Speaks; hardcover)." He was speaking about passive and nonviolent protests by the blacks in response to their violent persecution by the organised white American racists.

In 1964, Malcom X spoke about the impending Presidential and Congress elections then and titled it, The Ballot or the Bullet. He said among other things, "Before we try and explain what is meant by the ballot or the bullet, I would like to clarify something concerning myself. I'm still a Muslim, my religion is still Islam. That's my personal belief. ...//.... Although I am still a Muslim, I'm not here tonight to discuss my religion. I'm not here to try and change your religion. ...//... we have the same problem, a common problem - a problem that will make you catch hell whether you're a Babtist, or a Methodist, or a Muslim, or a nationalist. Whether you're educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or in the alley, you're going to catch hell just like I am. We're all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a white man. All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man. Now in speaking like this, it doesn't mean that we're anti-white, but it does mean we're anti-exploitation, we're anti-degradation,, we're anti-oppression. And if the white man doesn't want us to be anti-him let him stop oppressing and exploiting and degrading us (p.24-25)." Further in the speech, Malcolm X explained different tactics that had been deployed over the years to deny Black people in the US of their rights to vote in elections. And he said that many white senators and congress men won their seats because blacks were prevented from voting. The US democracy is still so today.

Speaking at the Audubon in December 1964, Malcolm X narrated his encounter with two American whites, a male and a female, while flying from Algiers to Geneva. After discussing for about forty-five minutes, the American lady asked him what Mr. X on his briefcase stood for, to which he replied, "that's my surname." After a pause the woman asked, what then is your first name and he answered Malcolm. The lady retorted, "You're not Malcolm X." Malcolm X said, "Yes, I'm Malcom X. Why, what's the matter?" And she said, "Well, you're not what I was looking for." Malcolm X told his audience, "What she was looking for was what the newspapers, the press had created. Somebody with some horns, you know, about to kill all the white people - as if he could kill all of them, or as if he shouldn't. She was looking for someone who was a rabble-rouser, who couldn't even converse with people with blue eyes, you know, someone who was irrational, and things of that sort. ....//.... They ... make the newspapers blow you and me up as if all of us are criminals, all of us are racists, all of us are drug addicts, or all of us are rioting. When you explode legitimately against the injustices that have been heaped upon you, they use the press to make it look like you're a vandal. They master this imagery, this image-making. They give you the image of an extremist, and from then on anything you do is extreme. ...//... They can paint the image of you as someone irresponsible, and you can come up with a program that will save the black man from the oppression of the white man and - When I say oppression, that's where oppression comes from, the white man. There are some oppressive black people, but they are only doing what the white man taught them (p. 91-92)." From the foregoing narratives, one can easily discover that Malcolm X was the same person in public as in private. Malcolm X was never a megalomaniac with exaggerated sense of self-importance.

Generally, a lunatic cannot be conscious of his/her lunacy and he or she ceases to be a lunatic the moment he/she is aware of his/her craziness. A lunatic that walks naked and engages in murmur in the public cannot claim that in private, he/she wears clothes and does not murmur. Nevertheless, Farooq admits that he is a grouchy, fire-eating hulk with an intemperate rage in his public commentaries but in private he is a slight, compulsively smiling, and mild-mannered introvert. In his 17 April 2021, he implored Falola to attest to his private persona which is quite different from his public persona. And I have been waiting anxiously for Falola to testify that although Farooq Kperogi has always pilloried Buhari publicly with the dirtiest adjectives and declaring him demented, Farooq in private persona worships and adores Buhari like God. After all is said and done, we Nigerians are Arabised, Islamized, Europeanised, Americanised and Christianised, yet, we remain in the world stationary as nuts on the wheel while the wheel rolls on. In a sane world, the competence and efficiency of Dr Alhaji Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami in office would be subject of debate and not his religion.

S. Kadiri

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From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Farooq A. Kperogi <farooq...@gmail.com>
Sent: 24 April 2021 06:21
To: USAAfrica Dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - On My Friendship with Pantami

 

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

I was wondering what Kadiri would comment.

What he has said, in effect,  is that religious terrorism has no bearing on state issues.

That a terrorist should not be assumed to be capable of using access to citizen's information and the resources of govt in serving terrorist ends.

That the terrorist affiliations and possible terrorist identity of a  Minister of Communication and Digital Economy are of no relevance to his job.

Speechless.

The argument is not about Pantami's religion. No one is complaining about Muslims in government. There are many in the Nigerian government. I expect they  even dominate the Buhari govt in terms of number and influence. 

The argument is that a terrorist, Muslim or otherwise, is a dangerous person to have in a government, particularly with access to such sensitive information and deadly power as Pantami has by virtue of his office as Minister of Communication and Digital Economy.

Is he still a terrorist? Is there any way of knowing for sure? Can we take the risk?

Between national wide Fulani herdsmen and Fulani militia, Miyetti Allah and Boko Haram  terrorisms, all associated, directly or indirectly with extremist Islam,  is the country not already combustible, particularly since the govt is clearly aiding the Fulani terrorism brand and does not seem particularly motivated to end Boko Haram?

May Nigeria withdraw from the looming precipice.

toyin

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[Salimonu Kadiri]

Obviously, Adepoju is in need of acquainting himself with the origin and history of terrorism. For what we know historically, Dr Alhaji Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami was yet to attain the age of seven when President Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, through the CIA began to to train Afghan Mujahedin, Taliban and al-Qaida in terrorist activities. Jimmy Carter signed the first directive for the secret terrorist group on July 3, 1979. In the US, CIA operatives joined the Taliban and Osama bin Laden who were recruited at an Islamic college in Brooklyn, New York - within sight of the Twin Towers - and given a paramilitary training, including bomb-making, in Virginia. It was code-named Operation Cyclone. John Cooley wrote that the CIA, the Saudi regime and the Pakistan's intelligence generals gave Osama bin Laden full rein in Afghanistan. Operation Cyclone,  Nafeez Ahmed wrote, provided the CIA with the ability to recruit, finance and train terrorist groups throughout the Muslim world. The goal of these policies was to destabilise nationalist and communist movements that threatened US interests. Extremists in Pakistan were thus mobilised by the CIA in tandem with the Saudis to proliferate extremist sects in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Algeria, Yemen, Indonesia, the Philippines and elsewhere. If Adepoju can take a leave off from his Ifa sophism and intellectual sorcery, I will recommend him to read, (i) The Unholy Wars - Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism by John K. Cooly and (ii) The War on Truth: 9/11, Disinformation and the Anatomy of Terrorism by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, so as to know the real creator of terrorism when Pantami was still a child.

​Putting words into my mouth Adepoju wrote, "What he (Kadiri) has said in effect, is that religious terrorism has no bearing on state issues." What did I say that implied that religious terrorism has no bearing on state issues? Can Adepoju tell us the name of the person who has perpetrated religious terrorism and how?

Adepoju went further to distort my words by ascribing to me the following saying,"That the terrorist affiliations and possible terrorist identity of a Minister of Communication and Digital Economy are of no relevance to his job." The Nigerian newspaper that initiated the campaign against the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, The Daily Independence, has retracted his allegation against the Minister and apologised to him for publishing the false and obnoxious propaganda. Can Adepoju tell us which terrorist organisatios the Minister is affiliated to?  When Adepoju accused the Minister of possible terrorist identity, is he not saying that the accusation against him is a guess, not based on fact? Yet, "Is he still a terrorist?" Adepoju asked, as if he has proved that he was once a terrorist. I repeat again that, based on all that Farooq have written on Buhari and claiming that the sources of his information are from insiders in Buhari's vicinity, Pantami should resign or be sacked if it is true that he is a friend of Farooq.

S. Kadiri

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Sent: 28 April 2021 03:51
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - On My Friendship with Pantami

 

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

The man has agreed that he once had  affiliations with Islamic terrorism.

He should please remain a private citizen because we can't take the risk of his repentance being a cover up for the moment only.

Our country is already on the brink of combustion from Islamic and Islamic affiliated terrorism.

We have many better qualified people without such dangerous orientations from any point in their history.

Please.

We need progress, not this recurrent identification of the Buhari govt with terrorism, from inducting of supposedly repentant  Boko Haram members into the army to fueling Fulani herdsmens terrorism and now appointing a possible terrorist to one of Nigeria's most delicate portfolios.

May God save us from the Buhari govt.

Thanks

Toyin

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[DR SIKIRU ENIOLA]

The issues I raised cannot be glossed over by stigmatizing Islam. There are pastors with big ministries who confessed to a past of serial murder, dare devil armed robbery, sexual molestations, gun running and ritualism. They were never caught nor tried by any court. They just gave the testimonies before their congregations and it had been life as usual. If they were born again by this unsupervised confession and we accepted them so quietly, what is the fuss with Pantami?

The concept of repentance is not man made. Neither is man appointed a judge in such matters. (Mathew 7 verse 1ff ). 

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[Obinna .]

Have any of these "pastors with big ministries", who are private citizens, been given govt appointments and their atrocities defended by the govt  that appointed them? This continuous attempt to force the glossing over of the sensitivity of having someone in a govt position with extreme views - past or present - is something else.  

 

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of DR SIKIRU ENIOLA <drsikir...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2021 8:50 AM
To: USAAfrica Dialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

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[DR SIKIRU ENIOLA]

Sir, with due respects, this is not a response to this momentous challenge!!!

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Dear Sirs,

Hallelujah!

Without any pretence to omniscience or to being “dispassionate”, to being devoid of any ethnic preference/ partiality/animosity, cosmic roots, ancient royal ancestry, and without making any poetic proclamations/claims that objectivity knows full well that I am more objective, more intelligent, and more Nigerian than him, the only option that remains is as Dr. Eniola suggests, that in our deliberations, the national spirit transcend petty party affiliation, petty or not so petty tribal loyalties, regional, linguistic, moin-moin and pounded yam cuisine, dress etiquette, music & dance ethics, morals, marriage customs and all the other prime factors that determine personal and group identities.

I’d say that after being liberated from the constraints of all of the above the only rational option that remains is the commonsensical approach in the name of fairness and justice – but then we are confronted by two major problems.

1. The nationalists who are also currently witnessing the unprecedented state of insecurity, the failure of the Federal Republic’s military and law enforcement agencies to do what they are being paid to do: to protect the life, limbs and property of their hapless citizens and the fact that this dereliction of duty is resulting in what we are all witnessing from near and far away as the erosion of law and order, the gradual collapse and surrender to the general anarchy, lawlessness and lack of accountability which in apocalyptic verbiage presages “The Second Coming” that could herald the utter disintegration of the great African country.

Some of the nationalists, of course, will continue to insist that Nigeria should forever stay welded together as one country, no matter what; like me they will continue to sing Stevie Wonder’s “I’ll be loving you always”

2. The other problem, the dis-integrationists who inveigh against the nationalists with the famous saying, “Patroitism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings – steal a little and they throw you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king!”

The basic weakness in that attack is that they seem to forget that a disintegrated Nigeria with such awesome human potential will only be replaced by so many other newly “independent” mini-nations arising out of what was once the great old Nigeria, and in time the new nations will be substituting fresh, euphoric (“free at last”) optimistic new nationalisms for the old.

And of course, as sure as power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, in time, the potentially Glorious Biafra, New Oduduwa, the oil rich Niger Delta Emirate, and without the separation of powers and the establishing the rule of law, with the emergence of the new corrupt elites/ hierarchies, the infamous saying could also be equally applied to some of the autonomous Northern Caliphates and mini-Islamic Republics that could be carved out of what was once Borno & Gongola, Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna and Zamfara, and the indeterminate Middle Belt that’s at the forefront of the protestations just now: Patroitism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings – steal a little and they throw you in jail. Steal a lot and then they make you king!”

It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee!

The seriousness of the-disaster-in-waiting is now further adumbrated by Professor Jibrin Ibrahim’s wakeup call entitled “AFRICOM” supported by this alarmist video CBN News Report On Insecurity in Nigeria that has been making the rounds, not to mention this conspiracy theory type of reaction from one of my most political of Pan-African brothers who happens to be Ghanaian and who says in paranoid reaction to the 4 minute video, and I’m quoting him verbatim:

“ Buhari is a disaster for Nigeria.
For me the above video rightly describes what we all know has been happening in Nigeria. But it is massive, sinister propaganda full of gross exaggerations, lies and half truths designed to deepen rifts and disunity among Nigerians. lt is exploiting genuine differences and serious disagreements that have always existed among Nigerians.
The intentions of this video are evil!
Already the extent of American military penetration of Africa is frightening and if this is not stopped it will lead to the worst tragedy Africa has seen since the slave trade and colonialism.
Boko Haram is a god-send (devil-sent) gift to American imperialism. And make no mistake: the United States is going to work together openly and secretly with Boko Haram to control Nigeria (and Africa), or destroy it!
They have done that in Libya and they are doing that right now in Iraq, Yemen and above all in Syria!

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