“We are all happy whenever unbelievers are being killed,” Mr Pantami said. “But the Sharia does not allow us to kill them without a reason.”
“Our zeal (hamasa) should not take precedence over our obedience to the sacred law,” he added.
Mr Pantami’s comments were contained in three audio recordings of his teachings in the 2000s, when he took extreme positions in support of the brutal exploits of Al Qaeda and Taliban elements who were on a campaign to obliterate the West and conquer other parts of the world.
He made the remarks while responding to audience questions about his views on Osama Bin Laden during a lecture about the Taliban. Mr Pantami said of Mr Bin Laden, the late Al Qaeda leader responsible for bringing down the World Trade Centre in an attack that claimed over 3,000 lives in 2001: “I still consider him as a better Muslim than myself.”
Mr Pantami’s comments were translated by Professor Andrea Brigaglia, an African expert at Naples University in Italy. Nigerian scholar Musa Ibrahim of University of Florida in the United States contributed to the paper that explored the onset of Boko Haram in Nigeria.
Top journal publisher academia.edu published the research in March 2019, several months before Mr Buhari tapped Mr Pantami as a minister. Mr Pantami’s violent preachings, which he rendered in Hausa and Arabic throughout the late 1990s and early to mid-2000s, had gone largely unreported in the Nigerian mainstream media.
Mr Pantami did not return a request seeking comments from Peoples Gazette about whether or not he has eschewed his violent Salafist views.
Mr Pantami’s comments were translated by Professor Andrea Brigaglia, an African expert at Naples University in Italy. Nigerian scholar Musa Ibrahim of University of Florida in the United States contributed to the paper that explored the onset of Boko Haram in Nigeria.
Top journal publisher academia.edu published the research in March 2019, several months before Mr Buhari tapped Mr Pantami as a minister. Mr Pantami’s violent preachings, which he rendered in Hausa and Arabic throughout the late 1990s and early to mid-2000s, had gone largely unreported in the Nigerian mainstream media.
Mr Pantami did not return a request seeking comments from Peoples Gazette about whether or not he has eschewed his violent Salafist views.
How many people have been radicalised by Mr Pantami remained unclear. Messrs Brigaglia and Ibahim said Mr Pantami’s views were rare amongst Islamic preachers across Africa at the time they were made, even though they were common amongst Nigerian Muslims at the time.
“It was ordinary for Nigeria’s mainstream Salafis to endorse Al-Qaeda publicly in their speeches and lectures,” the scholars said. “In this respect, Nigeria was probably a unique case in the Muslim world.”
Mr Pantami, 48, was widely known as a hate preacher across universities and other public institutions in northern parts of Nigeria before Mr Buhari brought him into mainstream Nigerian politics by appointing him as the head of the public information technology department NITDA in 2016.
Mr Buhari further elevated Mr Pantami following his reelection as president in 2019, tapping him to lead the communications and digital economy ministry of the federal government. Mr Pantami has been accused of using his position to further his agenda as a fundamentalist.
His decision to shut down the registration of new telephone lines in Nigeria has been perhaps his most controversial policy pronouncement to date. The move has blocked millions of Nigerians from being able to register new lines on the purported grounds that everyone has to obtain a government-issued national identity number.
Mr Pantami’s vicious comments surfaced following reports that he was placed travel restrictions by the United States for purported ties to Boko Haram. The minister quickly moved to debunk the salacious and grossly uncorroborated claim first published by Daily Independent, a Lagos-based daily.
While debunking the report, however, Mr Pantami took to Twitter to claim he has always preached against Boko Haram. He also retweeted several handles that described him as a peaceful Islamic scholar, an attempt at image laundering that has now been punctured by Italian and African scholars.
“It is unbelievable that President Buhari will appoint a man like Isa Pantami to be a minister in a secular country like Nigeria,” political analyst Mohammed Tukura told The Gazette. “A president that believes in national cohesion will not appoint a fundamentalist who shares the same views as leaders of Boko Haram and Taliban.”
Mr Tukura said Mr Pantami’s nomination should have been rejected on the basis of his appearance in the WikiLeaks file in which he said to have been pushed out of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University for constantly espousing dangerous views.
“We saw on the Internet that the U.S. government accused him of making dangerous comments for which he was expelled from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University,” Mr Tukura said. “His appointment as a minister has now further exposed Buhari’s sectional and divisive way of life.”
Davido is rumoured to have ditched Chioma and was spotted kissing Mya Yafai in viral pictures last week.
Mama Ifeanyi decided to take a big step by ridding her Instagram wall of all of Davido’s pictures.
However, she graciously left one, which is the picture displaying the DMW boss with their son, Ifeanyi.
The picture was used as the cover photo for the singer’s album “A better time.”
Boko Haram faction led by Abubakar Shekau released a video on Friday showing the downing of a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Alpha Jet which exploded mid-air.
The seven minutes 30 seconds-long video showed the Alpha Jet flying low over a battlefield arena with multiple Boko Haram fighters engaging in fierce and uncoordinated firefights.
The insurgents could be seen firing what was likely a heavy machine gun (anti-aircraft gun) towards the combat aircraft. Then the footage of a fireball explosion could be seen, as the Alpha Jet headed rapidly towards the ground.
Fighters subsequently moved to the area of the crash and began removing components of the aircraft and the pilots’ personal belongings.
The video also showed a masked fighter armed with a belt-fed machine gun standing on the aircraft debris, and speaking both Arabic and English.
Multiple Boko Haram fighters had gun trucks, motorcycles, AK pattern rifles, belt-fed machines and what appeared to be at least one OTO Melara M56 105mm howitzer improvised into a mobile artillery system and Suicide Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (SBVIEDs) type vehicle.
This incident raises safety concerns on both military and humanitarian aircraft flying over the conflict zone. It is unclear if the crash was caused by the anti-aircraft gun or a weapon system the group did not show in the video.
The Alpha Jet is an advanced trainer and attack aircraft that has served in the NAF inventory for almost 30 years, with the Air Force receiving new deliveries of the attack (A) variants in 2015 and 2018 from the United States of America. The crashed NAF 475 Alpha Jet is from that batch.
The Alpha Jets are usually equipped with Soviet rocket pods and unguided bombs used for targeting ground targets.
NAF had lost radar contact with an Alpha Jet conducting a routine mission in support of ground troops on Wednesday evening in the Sambisa forest area of Borno State, Northeast Nigeria.
Earlier today, the Air Force Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, revealed the identities of the pilots as Flight Lieutenant John Abolarinwa and Flight Lieutenant Ebiakpo Chapele.
“At this point, the NAF is not ruling out anything regarding the incident. It however remains hopeful that the crew would soon be found and rescued,” he had said before Boko Haram’s video surfaced
Amid the ongoing allegation of the crashing of Davido and Chioma’s love ship, the first baby mama of grammy award winning star joined other well-meaning folks as well as fans to express immense love for Mama Ifeanyi.
Shola, who can most certainly relate with what Chioma may be going through being a baby mama to a celebrity, said she finds herself though unconsciously praying for Mama Ifeanyi and defending her too.
She said the connection with Chioma is purely spiritual.
According to her: “The love I have for Chioma is inexplicable.. Weird but I just find myself unconsciously praying for her, defending her anytime and anywhere … So spiritual lol..
But May God continue to Bless and Strengthen her…and do that which is best for her now and forever. AMEN.”
The reality TV star shared several videos of herself, 2Baba and a host of others in a room on her Instastories on Wednesday. They shared a joke in one of the videos.
“With the legend on set of Nkoyo,” Nengi wrote;
Boko Haram claimed responsibility for downing the aircraft in a viral video.
But the Director Public Relations and Information Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, said the viral video could be clips from a previous incident.
He insisted the video is fraught with inconsistencies that established it was fake, adding the lush vegetation in one of the videos suggest it was not in the Northeast.
NAF spokesperson, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, said: “We have seen some videos but there is nothing that has proven that the aircraft in those clips belongs to us, or have you seen a Nigerian Air Force aircraft number or the body of Air Force pilot or have you seen any Air Force unifor until we get all these details strengthen out, we are not going to go into speculation.
“That video could have been shot somewhere. I have seen four videos so far, one of them has lush vegetation in the background, and I wonder where they have such vegetation in the Northeast. Unless they did something and they are releasing the clips bit by bit, we are waiting.
“Except we have evidence, because like I said, these persons have
families and you cannot go their wives, parents or wards, you must bring
concrete evidence. There must be something to show”.
He gave the advice on his Instagram page on Frjday April 2.
See his post below;
A statement released by presidential media aide, Femi Adesina, this night, March 29, says the President will be back in Nigeria in the second week of April.
”President Muhammadu Buhari proceeds to London, the United Kingdom, Tuesday March 30, 2021, for a routine medical check-up.
The President meets with Security Chiefs first in the morning, after which he embarks on the journey.
He is due back in the country during the second week of April, 2021.”the statement reads
The guest fought so hard not to sleep as one of the speakers spoke at the colloquium held in Kano state on Monday, March 29, to mark the 69th birthday of the APC National leader.
Watch below;
Guest battles with sleep at Bola Tinubu's colloquium held in Kano state today March 29 cc @Gidi_Traffic pic.twitter.com/e5xylv5wBI
Read his story below:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Gemdeconq7/status/1375177987260350465
Let me tell you a story.
A story of how I became a millionaire with wheel barrows.
In 2015 I was living in Delta as a houseboy in the Igbo apprenticeship system. One of my duties every weekend was to buy and have processed two old layer hens at abraka market asaba.
A thread..
There was a man, Boniface, who sold polythene there. He had a small
kiosk & I’d often buy the bags to package my already cut up chicken
from his store.
I had no idea the man has been admiring me. One day he opened up. He told me he just liked me and that he wanted to be friends.
I was wary at first but I thought, what could possibly go wrong? So I gave him my number and we became friends.
Every saturday I’d sit at his shop as my hens were cut & we’d talk. He looked poor & ordinary, but mentally he was a genius. A treasure trove of MONEY MAKING IDEAS!!!
He was way older than me but we developed deep respect for each other.
During our discussions we talked about converting the many opportunities that abound in this country, but the nearest to attainable one was starting a small scale barrow rental business around onitsha markets
We wanted to help people out and of course also make money to
better our lives. Being the trader amongst us, I did my research. Ran
the numbers, sought & got permission from my then master and thus we
went into the business of making & renting out barrows.
I registered and became the youngest member of the Anambra state barrow
owners & pushers association – yes thats an actual union that
regulates the barrow business and it cost quite some money to sign up
into.
We started small with 6 barrows. I owned 5. Boniface owned one. We
charged our employees; The barrowmen 200 naira (51 cents) per day for
renting the barrows. It seems small but it’s tiny, consistent drops of
money like these, if properly channeled that creates oceans of wealth!
For people who just left prisons, okada riders who were banned from operating, poor farmers from rural areas, young people without jobs, wheel barrow pushing is somewhat of a last resort. It doesn’t require much skill. With just strenght & stamina a person can make money daily.
Alot of these people go on to raise capital from this job to buy tools or vehicles or machines for other labour intensive jobs and thus improve their standard of living and rise a step higher in the ladder of society and above poverty.
We marketed them as polite, professional pushers to the market to
encourage people to always patronise & them in particular and It
worked!!
“GEMDECONQ” barrow men started getting more jobs and started making more money than they did before.
Truth is Nigeria has too many problems. Problems create a need for
solutions. Providing solutions creates value and value is simply what
makes people wealthy.
You don’t need juju.
Look for problems & needs around you. Solve one or two. You too will count in milli milli.
Attorney Eric Nelson told the jury there’s evidence that is about more than 9 minutes of video. He then zeroed in on Floyd going to a market shortly before the police confrontation.
He says employees from the market observed Floyd and believed he was under the influence of something. Nelson then raised the issue of Floyd allegedly trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill.
Nelson says when police got the call from someone inside the market, they said Floyd appeared “drunk.”
He told the jury when Floyd was inside a car after leaving the market he had fallen asleep, again suggesting he was under the influence.
He says when Floyd was confronted by cops, he “put drugs in his mouth” to conceal them, TMZ reports. He says when an autopsy was performed they found a “speedball” in his system, which includes meth and fentanyl.
Nelson says Floyd had incredible strength as he resisted 3 officers. Video shows the car rocking back and forth, indicating there was such a fierce struggle, he said.
He noted Chauvin was 5’9″ and 140 lbs, while Floyd dwarfed him at 6’3″ and 240 lbs, thereby suggesting the force Chauvin used was justified.
He also says Floyd had heart issues that were fatally exacerbated by drug intake.
He also said the growing crowd of horrified onlookers actually exacerbated the situation by hurling names at Chauvin and the other cops.
Nelson implored the jury not to consider this a social justice trial, rather he says it’s a trial of one man.
The photo were obtained by a popular gossip blog on Instagram and has sparked reactions on social media after it was posted on their page.
See photos below;
In a post shared on social media this morning, the former Minister described her outfit as anti-christ and ghetto rubbish. He wrote;
”Disrespectful, tasteless, tactless, shameless, bestial, blasphemous, heretical, disgusting, provocative, outrageous, anti-Christ and totally and completely unacceptable. This is not art: it is GHETTO RUBBISH!
I forgot to add that it is also EVIL!”
