Is Malami, Bawa, Other Close Associates Of Buhari Backing Isa Pantami Amid Damning Controversies?

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami; Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa; President Muhammadu Buhari’s personal assistant, Sabiu Yusuf (Tunde) have been identified as the ‘backers’ of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami amid damning controversies surrounding him.

SaharaReporters gathered that Pantami had in the past bragged that he would not be investigated because of his closeness to “those who have the ears of the President.”

Others are former EFCC boss, Nuhu Ribadu and Senate President Ahmad Lawan.

“Recall Pantami making noise about the failure of TSA (Treasury Single Account) months back, what people did not know is that we were paid money by the Nigerian Communications Commission for the frequency so Pantami does not want that money in the TSA, and he has created bogus projects and brought his friends to the organisation to oversee it so that the milking of the funds can continue.

“It is unfortunate that the President is being deceived with his fake religiosity and that’s why the MD of NIGCOMSAT (Nigeria Communications Satellite, Dr Abimbola Alale) was happy to be leaving as she was scared of the level of his callousness and corruption,” a top source in the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy told SaharaReporters.

“Below are some of his protectors that help him loot his way to paying the cabal members in the Villa and the Senate to bulldoze his way with any documents he wants. Bawa of EFCC also has his brother recruited by Pantami, so he has been compensated and compromised.

“Ahmad Lawan, the Senate President or soon-to-be former Senate President, has constantly used the MDAs to pay for his assets, especially the assets seized by EFCC which he and Malami want to buy and also has his son recruited into one of the MDAs under Pantami.

“Sabiu Tunde is the master and godfather of Pantami. Pantami takes almost all proceeds he has looted from the MDAs to him to get all his papers signed without the President knowing what he is signing.

“Malami is also one of them. Another avenue he has is NCC where Pantami facilitates licenses for him and his brothers. He also takes him to Turkey for medical trips aside from the many looted contracts.

“A renowned preacher from Bauchi during a sermon last month exposed the fraud of Pantami, of using religion and stated how in Pantami’s defence, an Imam came out to say Pantami gave his wife PCs and hundreds of thousands of naira. These PCs were stolen from the government, the ones that Kashifu Inuwa, the NITDA DG diverted via shady projects to give to the wives of people Pantami wants to bribe.

“Nuhu Ribadu, the former EFCC boss is now used in the EFCC to block everything about Pantami, using his people in the agency. He is also the one positioned to lobby the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu for Pantami to stay on as a minister so that his looting spree can continue or be appointed as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. In recent days, Pantami has started dividing himself between the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar and Tinubu’s camps; he is trying to see how he can eat his cake and have it.”

Another source noted that to “show his tact and ability to purchase the Senate members using Ahmad Lawan and Uba Sani, the NASS started holiday on Thursday, the same day the advert for the public hearing was released”.

The source added, “I mean, the hearing on the Bill for an Act to repeal the National Information Technology Development Agency Act No. 28, 2007

and enact the National Information Technology Development Agency Act to provide for the administration, implementation and regulation of Information Technology Systems and Practices as well as Digital Economy in Nigeria and for Related Matters, 2022.

“The hearing was scheduled for Friday, a day after the advert. The 1st reading and 2nd reading are still a mystery; they were not known to so many members and the public. Stakeholders tore into the Director of Legal, NITDA who almost cried. Then Pantami told them not to forward the report of the engagement to NASS because he has other strategies which include paying the lawmakers. So, he exploited the presidency via his godfather, Sabiu Tunde to forward it as an executive proposal to NASS through the advice of his allies in the presidency and NASS.”

A top source told SaharaReporters last week that the federal lawmakers – senators and House of Representatives’ members received bribes in cash and job slots from Pantami to ensure the passage of the controversial bill to repeal and re-enact the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

The bill seeks, among others, to empower NITDA to fix licensing and authorisation charges, collect fees and penalties and issue contravention notices and non-compliance with the act.

The proposed legislation also seeks to establish the National Information Technology Development Fund which shall be funded by a levy of one per cent of the Profit Before Tax (PBT) of companies and enterprises with annual turnover of N100m and above.

It listed the affected companies’ pay levels to include mobile and fixed telecommunications companies; information technology companies, gaming companies, and e-commerce companies; foreign digital platforms targeting the Nigerian market; banks, financial institutions, Fintech companies, insurance companies among others.

Pantami is not new to controversies; for instance, he was in the news last year over his past call to Jihad and unalloyed support for murderous groups like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

“This jihad is an obligation for every single believer, especially in Nigeria,’’ Pantami was quoted as saying in one of his vicious preaching in the 2000s.

“Oh God, give victory to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda,” he was quoted to have also said.

In other audio clips that surfaced online, Pantami was also heard as sympathetic to Boko Haram members when delivering sermons at several worship centres in the 2000s.

However, Pantami claimed he had renounced his radical comments and said his views had changed over time. He said he had in the past 15 years been traversing the country to preach against terrorism.

Despite the minister’s claim, most Nigerians said he ought to have resigned due to public backlash and be investigated by the authorities. Should he fail to resign, some commentators said he ought to be sacked by the President.

But the Presidency, in glaring support for Pantami, dismissed the possibility of sacking the controversial minister because he had allegedly apologised for his radical views.

Recently, the minister embarked on trips to at least nine countries within one month in complete disregard of President Buhari’s directive.

In a bid to curb leakages and ensure efficiency in the management of public resources, President Buhari, in 2019, approved the immediate implementation of additional cost-saving measures aimed at instilling financial discipline and prudence, especially as regards official travels.

According to a statement issued by the Office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation at the time, all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are now required to submit their Yearly Travel Plans for statutory meetings and engagements to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and/or the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation for express clearance within the first quarter of the fiscal year, before implementation.

They are further required to make their presentation using the existing template and also secure approvals on specific travels as contained in the plan, from the appropriate quarters.

A source in the government had said, “Pantami in one month has travelled to nine countries, forcing the government to pay for him and his family members for some of these trips.

“He was in Egypt last week, he travelled to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates despite a visa ban on Nigerians. He begged the ambassador and he and his two wives travelled there. He was also in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“He followed the President to South Korea and he was in Dubai again for Gitex and also Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. He was also in other countries.

“He has been doing nothing but going on excessive travels and threatening those in charge to pay for his travels. But again, why should we complain when he is learning from his master, the president, going on fruitless travels and doing nothing?

“Even for his book launch, he forced some departments and agencies under him to pay enormous amounts of money to the media so that his pre-book publicity and book launch will be the biggest in the country. Unfortunately, it was a wasted effort because no one heard about the book or can remember the title.

“He spent over N9.7m in one of the MDAs on pre-publicity of his book. When did a personal book launch become the job of a government agency? It is unfortunate that the deceit of this man is going unchecked.

“Now, his mission is running between Nuhu Ribadu, who tried to marry his cousin to him, and some people in Atiku Abubakar’s camp to see how he will be retained as minister or ambassador. At least, a prominent scholar in Bauchi has started calling out the hypocrisy of this man who is using the beautiful religion to deceive people and achieve his personal ambition.

“He is scheming to position and renew people’s tenure before their time in MDAs under the ministry so that they can cover his dirt in case he does not return.”