Vreporters

Category: Opinion

  • Islamophobia, Pantami and the hypocrisy of his detractors By Frederick Nwabufo

    Islamophobia, Pantami and the hypocrisy of his detractors By Frederick Nwabufo

    Profiling. Targeting. Scapegoating. In Nigeria, you are more likely to effectuate wry remarks and suspicious stares if you are the prototypical Muslim with full-bred beard, a ‘’decimal point’’ on your forehead – a sign of your devotion to Almighty Allah, and apparelled in modest trousers that stand aloof from the ankle than if you are a Bible-wielding evangelist piercing the dawn quietude of a drowsy neighbourhood with screams and shrieks of ‘’repentance’’.

    We live in a country that is autochthonously Christianised. Our ways are Christian. It is commonplace to profile Muslims who hold strong beliefs as ‘’extremists’’ but not Christians who arrogantly profess their beliefs anywhere and everywhere, even commanding obeisance to their faith. I have never heard any Christian described as an extremist – even when some church leaders make galling and inflammatory statements.


    In the build-up to the 2015 presidential election, Bishop Oyedepo vowed to open the floodgates of hell on the opponents of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Is this not an incendiary statement – by a man of god? This pastor also physically assaulted a penitent who came to his church for deliverance. But it was excused because he is a Christian leader. Christians are not extremists even when their actions vouchsafe this fact – but any Muslim can be summarily tagged an ‘’extremist?’’ When a Christian leader makes extremist comments, we call it ‘’holy anger’’. It is hypocrisy.

    In 2017, the DSS attempted to arrest Pastor Johnson Suleman after he publicly said he asked his security guards to kill any Fulani intruder around his church. He also threatened the government after state agents swooped in on a hotel he took residence in Ekiti. In addition, Pastor Enenche and others in the same phylum have made ungodly threats that border on bigotry and extremism. But they were all palliated – because they are Christian leaders. It is hypocrisy.

    Our society is subliminally attuned to certain precepts and ways that are predominantly Christian. Any otherness sets off an alarm. It is societal conditioning. Our society has been conditioned to readily see some people in one divide as ‘’extremists’’ and others in another category as ‘’devotees’’. A conditioning in hypocrisy.

    The avalanche of attacks – both sponsored and taxied – against Isa Ibrahim Pantami, minister of communication and digital economy, accents some Nigerians’ atavism and aboriginal hypocrisy. I would not want to dwell on the contents of some videos and abstracts rippling on social media because they have been politically ammunitioned for not kosher ends.

    Pantami’s only offence could be that he is a Sheikh heading a vital government ministry. Yes, some bigoted interests find his being a Sheikh in a sensitive public office exasperating. They cannot stand the fact that a notable Muslim leader is the superintendent of a key ministry. But Pantami is not just any Sheikh. He is a technocrat who knows his onions. He is not fish out of water at the ministry of communications. He trained as a computer scientist, obtaining a PhD from Robert Gordon University in Scotland. He bagged sterling credentials from Ivy-league schools like Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also attended Cambridge in the UK. But bigotry clouds the mind of those who see him as a Sheikh who has no business in the communications ministry.

    As a matter of fact, the kindler of the current social media blitz against the minister is beyond ‘’what he said or did not say in the past’’. Some interests in the communications industry who perceive him as impervious to inducement, a non-conformist and a strong character are working in the shadows. Pantami has taken some hard-line-decisions against the industry vultures that are desperate to draw blood. The controversy is a smokescreen to exact vengeance. Nigerians should not unwarily cavort on the playground of this horde.

    The truth is for every of Pantami’s detractor, the cause for grouse are interests not being served. The minister is not playing ball, hence, veiled daggers drawn.

    Those calling for Pantami’s resignation do not mean well for Nigeria. I believe he should be judged by his stewardship at the ministry of communications — not by his faith. If the social media blitzkrieg against the minister is because of his performance at the ministry, that will be a different matter. But it is not. Pantami is perhaps one of the most resourceful and responsive communications ministers Nigeria has ever had.

    Again, the minister should be judged according to his work at the ministry. And he has done a good job of that.

    I will not join the multitude to commit murder.

    *Fredrick Nwabufo a.k.a ‘Mr OneNigeria’ is a journalist. Twitter @FredrickNwabufo

  • Pantami Is My Friend, But He Can’t Be Defended | Farooq Kperogi

    THIS is a difficult column to write because although scores of people have importuned me to intervene in the controversy regarding Communication and Digital Economy Minister Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami’s utterances before he came into government, my wife, who knows Pantami is my friend, pleaded with me to stay out of it.

    But I would be a hypocrite and betray the meaning of my name (and also my late father who taught me the meaning of my name when I was too young to fully grasp it and who never failed to remind me to live up to it) if I sidestep this consuming national controversy because it puts my friend in a bad light.

    The truth is that it’s impossible to deploy the resources of logic, reason, basic decency, and even religious morality to defend some of the sermons Pantami gave in the early to late 2000s, especially in light of his current position as a federal minister in charge of a vast treasure trove of citizens’ sensitive information. I’ll come to this shortly.

    But, first, how did the controversy about Pantami’s past preachments come to the forefront of national conversation? A story appeared in a few Nigerian news sites on April 12 alleging that Pantami was a Boko Haram sympathizer and enabler who is now on the radar of America’s intelligence community.

    The most prominent of the newspapers that gave wing to this story was James Ibori’s Daily Independent, which alleged that Pantami had “ties with Abu Quata¬da al Falasimi and other Al-Qaeda leaders that he revered and spoke glowingly of in several of his videos on YouTube” on the basis of which he is now “on the watch list of the [sic] America’s Intelligence Service.”

    The backstory to this story is that it was planted by executives of telecommunications companies in Nigeria whose companies are hemorrhaging financially because of Pantami’s December 9, 2020 directive that halted the sale, activation, and registration of new SIM cards until an “audit of the Subscriber Registration Database” is completed.

    I know this because at least two editor friends confided in me that they had received the story of Pantami’s alleged links to terrorism and his surveillance by US intelligence authorities from people connected to Nigeria’s telecommunications industry, but that they declined to publish it because it was legally problematic.

    I suspect that Pantami himself has identified the source of his troubles because, on April 15, he ordered a conditional resumption of new SIM card sale, activation and registration from April 19 “as long as mandatory National Identification Number (NIN) verification is done and the guidelines of the Revised National Digital Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration are fully adhered to.”

    Nonetheless, in spite of efforts by paid and unpaid media and social media “influencers” to defend him—and the retraction of the story that alleged his sympathies for domestic and international terrorists—the truth is that his rhetorical entanglements with extremist Salafist ideologies, which I wasn’t familiar with until fairly recently, justify the critical scrutiny he is receiving now.

    In a series of reports, complete with audiographic accompaniments, the Peoples Gazette has unearthed sermons by Pantami that amounted to unvarnished homiletic endorsements of terrorism and intolerance of non-Muslims.

    For instance, in response to a question about Osama bin Laden’s “killing of innocent unbelievers,” Pantami said although he conceded that Bin Laden was liable to err because he was human, “I still consider him as a better Muslim than myself” and pointed out that “We are all happy whenever unbelievers are being killed, but the Sharia does not allow us to kill them without a reason.” You can’t defend that.

    People’s Gazette also unearthed an audiotape in which he engaged in a weepy defense of Boko Haram terrorists against extra-judicial killings and asked for an amnesty for them just like Niger Delta militants. “See what our fellow Muslim brothers’ blood has turned to? Even pig blood has more value than that of a fellow Muslim brother,” he said.

    In the aftermath of the religious crisis in Shendam in Plateau State in 2004 in which Christian militiamen murdered scores of Hausa Muslims, Pantami was livid and tearful. In an audio of his preaching, he said the “Ahlus Sunna,” that is, people who are now called Salafists, should strike back and shun politicians and religious clerics who preached peace and restraint.

    “This jihad is an obligation for every single believer, especially in Nigeria (hādhājihādfarḍ ‘ayn ‘ala kullmuslimwakhuṣūṣanfīNījīriyā),” he said.

    In his March 2020 paper titled “The ‘Popular Discourses of Salafi Counter-Radicalism in Nigeria’ Revisited: A Response to Abdullahi Lamido’s Review of Alexander Thurston, Boko Haram,” Professor Andrea Brigaglia of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, writes:

    “Subsequently, Pantami offers himself as a volunteer to mobilise the Hisba police of the Muslim-majority states and to be appointed as the ‘commander’ (Hausa: kwamanda) of a militia ready to travel to Yelwa Shendam to join the fight in defence of the Muslims. The speech, which is about twenty minutes long, concludes with the prayer: ‘Oh God, give victory to the Taliban and to al-Qaeda’ (Allahumma ’nṣurṬālibānwa-tanẓīm al-Qā‘ida).”

    There are many more indefensible rhetorical endorsements of extremism that can be found in Pantami’s past preaching. In my opinion, it is legitimate for non-Muslims to be concerned that someone with that sort of baggage is a federal minister—just like it would be valid for Muslims to be outraged if a Christian minister has been shown to have espoused extremist views before they became minister.

    Yemi Osinbajo, for instance, has been accused of being a Christian who wallows in his Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) bubble, who employs only Yoruba people who belong to the RCCG, but no one has yet accused him of advocating views as extreme as Pantami’s when he was a pastor.

    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.

    Although an April 15, 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable (exposed by WikiLeaks in 2011) about the religious crisis in Bauchi during that year said “Imam Pantami Isa, who preached at the mosque, had been previously thrown out of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University and of a Gombe mosque for preaching inflammatory rhetoric,” he is not known to have instigated any religious upheavals since then.

    I also think he has evolved from the days of his fiery homiletic entanglements with stochastic terrorism. I can point to a few evidentiary proofs. First, although he said in one audio that he wanted to push Nigeria to the point where there would be no iconography in our national currency and even political campaign posters, he now obviously loves photography.

    Second, although previous sermons expressed contempt for working for the government and even derided Islamic clerics who do, this is Pantami’s second political appointment.

    Before he was appointed minister, he was DG of NITDA.

    Third, he earned a doctorate from the UK’s Robert Gordon University in 2014 and is now so enamored of the West to THE point that he even claims on his Twitter page and elsewhere that he was “trained” at “Oxford; Harvard; Cambridge; MIT/IMD” although he only attended a few weeks’ courses there.

    But the notion that these facts show evidence that he has changed is just my extrapolation. If he indeed has evolved like I think he has, he should address a world press conference and say so. At the very least, he should give the context for his previous incendiary preachments.

    No one can do this for him. Paying media houses to “factcheck” un-fact-checkable claims (such as whether he is on a watchlist) and to cleverly twist facts to deceive a gullible reading public— and social media “influencers” to muddy the discursive waters— won’t help him.

    After all, in December 2020, Sheikh Aminu Daurawa who, like Pantami, countenanced Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the early to mid-2000s, released an audiotape renouncing his past. And he isn’t a government appointee.

    As Desmond Ford reminds us, “A wise man changes his mind sometimes, but a fool never. To change your mind is the best evidence you have one.”

  • Explainer: SAUDI’S ISLAMIC LUNAR DATE AND NIGERIA’S LUNAR DATE

    Explainer: SAUDI’S ISLAMIC LUNAR DATE AND NIGERIA’S LUNAR DATE

    By Simwal Usman jibril

    As usual Ramadan is approaching and i have been receiving so many messages asking me why our lunar date is different from Saudi’s. I ll try my possible best to explain it in a very simple way inshaallah.

    Generally Saudi use their pre calculated Ummul Qura calendar for other months apart from Ramadan, Shawwal and sometimes Dhul Hijjah. In these months the rely on positive sighting of the crescent with naked eye and optical aid ( telescopes etc).

    It’s important to mention that on my visit to Makkah clock tower astronomy center I was informed that Saudi has a round the clock lunar observation. The King Abdullah center for crescent observation operates a global network of 5 stations located in Saudi Arabia.

    I was also informed at the center that the telescopes points automatically to the moon and are equipped with “ special infrared filters “( Most likely CCD cameras, my opinion though) that makes sightings possible even during the day when the moon is near the sun.

    The Saudi Ummul Qura calendar is pre calculated based on a fixed criterion, The criteria is that on the conjunction (New Moon) day, if the conjunction occurs before sunset at Makkah and moonset is after sunset then the following day is the first day of the new month.

    While in Nigeria we solely depend on naked eye sighting of the crescent for all the months as prescribed by Sharia ( apart from Dhul hijjah based on a fatwa issued by Fatwa commitee of NSCIA).

    Currently Saudi’s date is a day ahead of Nig lunar date bcos Nig completed 30 days in Rajab but based on Saudi’s criteria Sha’baan ll complete 30 days bcos conjunction ll occur after sunset on Saudi’s 29th Sha’baan / 22nd April ( conjunction ll occur on 23rd April 5:26am Saudi).

    While in Nig on the 23rd April/ 29th Sha’baan ( Nig’s lunar date) by sunset in Nigeria the crescent will be about 15 hrs 20 minutes and the moon lag time ( time diff b/w sunset and moon set ) will be about 28-30mins, making it possible to sight the crescent with optical aid.

    So it’s very likely that Nigeria and Saudi will start Ramadan on the same day 24th April. Though it’s possible to sight the crescent with optical aid on the 23rd April, it is almost impossible to sight it with the naked eye based on astronomical parameters.

    From past experience of Ramadan crescents of about same age in Nigeria I’m sure we will receive many sighting claims ( don’t ask me how 😁).

    I hope the explanation is clear and I will like to conclude by saying Allahu a’alaam.
    Allahumma balligna Ramadan ameen.

    Simwal is a member of Islamic Cresent Observation Project and National Moosighting Committee.

    Note: This Article was first published last year upon request by some Muslim faithfuls who needed clarification on how the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia go about the counting of Islamic lunar months in comparison to Nigeria 🇳🇬.

  • WORLD WATER DAY: WHAT DOES WATER MEAN TO YOU? By Ananwureyi Joy Ohine

    WORLD WATER DAY: WHAT DOES WATER MEAN TO YOU? By Ananwureyi Joy Ohine

    By the year 2050, the demand for water is expected to increase by more than 50 percent. Presently, according to the United Nations, 2.2 billion people are living without access to safe water.

    If we continue to overlook the value of water, how do we expect to meet its increasing demanding presently, and for years to come?


    World water day is held on every 22nd of March. The main purpose of this special day is to raise awareness on the importance of water, and to bring to our notice the people who don’t have access to safe water. The theme of this year 2021 World Water Day is ‘Valuing Water’.

    Water is the very foundation of our planet. It is the lifeblood of our economy. Today, water is under extreme threats. We need to manage it sustainably. On this day, let us remember the true value of water and how we can protect it. If we overlook this value, we risk mismanaging this resource.

    We all need to take action about the global water crisis. Do not forget that you are the most important element of the world water day campaign. As little as closing the tap when you’re brushing or avoiding the disposal of refuse into water bodies, you are contributing your own bit to valuing and saving water.


    Stop undervaluing water.
    Stop taking water for granted!
    Let us join hands to protect all sources of water and invest in providing clean water for humanity.

    As Slyvia Earle had once stated: ‘No water! No life! No Blue! No Green!
    Do the Earth a favour and be a water saver.
    Ananwureyi Joy is an honour graduate of the Bachelor of Laws of Obafemi Awolowo University. She is very passionate about environmental sustainability and loves celebrating International days.

  • SECRET PLANS FOR CAPE VERDE TO CHANGE ITS NAME By Stella Olayemi

    SECRET PLANS FOR CAPE VERDE TO CHANGE ITS NAME By Stella Olayemi

    By Stella Olayemi

    IF Ulisses Correa wins election he has pledged to change the name of the micro-nation to the voice of America.

    How does a country hardly anyone has heard of, which is best known for the transit point for cocaine from South America and a population of barely 600,000 defy the wishes of 14 other countries with a combined population of 400,000,000. Yes, you read that correctly – that’s four hundred million.

    The answer is when that tiny micro-nation is Cape Verde, and it has decided that its wants to be an extension of the United States in Africa. The constitution of Cape Verde does not permit the establishment of military bases by another country on Cape Verdean soil so, in a desperate attempt to win the favour of the United States, Prime Minister Ulisses Correia plans to change the name of his country to The Voice of America.

    Our Special Investigations Unit has learned that Ulisses Correia also plans to hold a
    referendum seeking a mandate to convert The Voice of America into a military base thus very cleverly circumventing the constitution in the best interests of the people.

    This brilliant piece of strategic thinking was apparently developed after many late nights spent binge-watching
    episodes of “Homeland” and “24”.

    The ECOWAS Commission was contacted for its comments he said that he preferred to watch.

    “Jack Ryan”

  • OPINION: Selling Cape Verde for dollars, using Alex Saab as a bargaining chip

    OPINION: Selling Cape Verde for dollars, using Alex Saab as a bargaining chip

    By Uthman Samad

    Years ago, when vinyl LP records were the only way to properly listen to music and the Walkman and iPods were mere twinkles in the eyes of Akio Morita and Steve Jobs respectively, I bought the fifth Genesis album entitled “Selling England by the Pound”.

    The album took its name from a phrase in a Labour Party manifesto of the time and referred to the primary theme of the album – the erosion of traditional English culture by American commercialism and consumerism disguised as a seductive embrace.

    Watching events unfold in Cape Verde since 12 June 2020, the date on which Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab was unlawfully detained by Cape Verdean law enforcement, and the subsequent convoluted machinations of the government to justify the arrest has been exhausting. What drama! A global pandemic, questions about the role of INTERPOL, a larger-than-life Venezuelan businessman, an entitled and arrogant judiciary, a now discredited Minister of Foreign Affairs and a shadowy National
    Security Advisor both with alleged links to alt-right organisations in Miami with an incredible supporting cast of characters.

    Seen close up and in real time, accompanied by a soundtrack of “Selling Cape Verde by the Pound” has brought a certain poignancy to the unravelling of the Cape Verdean dream as it allows itself to be
    enveloped by that same seductive embrace.

    Reputations take years, even decades to build but can be destroyed in minutes. Ask Dominique Strauss Khan, one-time golden boy of the French intelligentsia , “the Man Who Saved the World” during the 2008/2009 global financial crisis in his role as head of the IMF. Or ask Rajat Gupta, consigliere to Fortune 500 CEO and former head of McKinsey, the global consulting giant, who parlayed his inside information for millions in illegal stock trading profits. Or, even Prince Andrew.

    The tiny West African archipelago state of Cape Verde has spent the better part of the last two decades cultivating an image as the poster boy of African democracy – or what African democracy would look like if only those Africans would listen.

    Recent events have, however, seen this façade (for it turns out that is all it ever was) peeling away and what is found below the surface looks and smells pretty rotten.

    Cape Verde’s blatant disregard for centuries-old customary international law that governs the movement of diplomatic agents egged on by external pressure, if left unchallenged, will have serious long-term implications for the conduct of diplomacy.

    That Alex Saab was a Special Envoy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela engaged on an humanitarian Special Mission at the time of his detention is irrefutable. That he had, and has, immunity and inviolability is irrefutable. His 24 December 2020 appointment as Deputy Permanent Representative to the African Union is irrefutable. That the unanimous decision of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice of 2 December 2020 is binding upon Cape Verde is irrefutable. That the US State Department has described Cape Verde’s prisons as “…life threatening” is irrefutable. That the house arrest directed by the Barlavento Court of Appeal on 21 January 2021 is a sham and violates so many of Ambassador Saab’s basic human rights as to be a cruel and inhuman joke is irrefutable.

    It turns out Cape Verde hasn’t been sold by the Pound, it’s actually sold its soul for a Fistful of Dollars.

  • To Kwara Govt: Alleged Killing of 5 Drivers By Soldiers In Kwara And The Need For Justice

    To Kwara Govt: Alleged Killing of 5 Drivers By Soldiers In Kwara And The Need For Justice

    Busy Brain Writes From Maiduguri

    My heart bleeds profusely as I could not hold back the tears rolling down from my eyes when I read the news of five (5) drivers allegedly killed by Soldiers at Ilesa Baruba, Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State.

    On what condition should innocent souls whose daily food revolve around their daily income be murdered cheaply, leaving their family and beloved ones into deep agony and somberness.

    News Agency of Nigeria reported earlier that five commercial drivers were shot dead by soldiers in a dispute over N200 bribe.

    NAN, quoting sources in the area said the incident was triggered off by a driver who refused to pay the usual N200 “booking” bribe to soldiers at a checkpoint they mounted Ilesha-Baruba/Chikanda highway.

    The driver reportedly told the soldiers that he had already ‘booked’ earlier in the morning.

    But the claim was said to have infuriated the soldiers who subsequently slapped and ordered the driver to do frog jumps.

    According to the sources, the vehicle was also seized.

    The driver later left the spot and lodged a complaint with officials of the transport union in the area.

    NAN learnt that members of the union subsequently followed the driver with the aim of talking to the soldiers on his behalf.

    This however allegedly degenerated into unpleasant arguments, leading to the alleged shooting of some drivers with three allegedly dying on the spot and two dying later from gunshot wounds.

    The peak of brutality and wickedness displayed from the above reports have portrayed the Kwara State Government as one who care less about justice for the civilians. The gong to demand for justice should have started clanging since the day of that gory incident by Kwara State Government. This actually reminds me of Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum. The man that would never watch his people killed extra judicially. Had the incident happened in Borno, Prof. Zulum would have dragged the killer soldiers and called them out for justice to reign. It is a message to the Kwara State Govt to act beyond condolence messages to the deceased families and the paramount ruler of Ilesha Baruba Kingdom and press for justice.

    Although, many things have actually gone wrong in Nigeria and the personnel charged with the sole responsibility of protecting lives have been killing innocent like fowls without concrete justice for the victims.

    Like many other extra judicial killings that had happened in the past, here is another version in Kwara State and the justices in our court have journey traveled to exile in Nigeria. As I pray for the soul of the deceased to rest in peace, I equally pray for our justices to come back and rescue us. Justice must be served.

    Don’t only read it, share it as well for Justice

    CC:

    National Assembly
    Kwara State Government
    Nigerian Army
    NHRC
    NUJ