Nigeria needs more people like Pantami in government – Gumi

Sheikh Ahmed Gumi, a Kaduna-based Islamic cleric who has been advocating peace deals with terrorist herders, has warned that Nigerians will regret if Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, is removed from office.

The minister has recently been in the spotlight for past controversial preachings that linked him to terror groups and a letter that alleged he was part of a genocide planning group.

These revelations have spurred overwhelming calls for the resignation or sack of the Minister despite denouncing the statement and claiming he is a changed person.

Despite the overwhelming backlash against the minister, the presidency and other voices like the Arewa Youths for Peace & Security have thrown their weight behind Pantami.

They claimed the minister can be excused because the statements were made in the past. While the presidency added that the calls were an organised “cancel campaign” and the minister has recanted his views.

However, speaking when he appeared in an interview with Roots TV on Monday, Gumi said the allegations against the minister are unrealistic and should be discarded.

“You cannot Islamise the whole world. Jesus Christ came; he could not Christianise the whole world. Nobody can Islamise or Christianise Nigeria,” Gumi said.

“All his actions, one hundred percent, shows he is not a terrorist. Those who are terrorists are after his life. The minister should continue. His presence there is fighting the terrorist ideology.”

Gumi continued that the minister has been performing well in his ministerial role and Nigerians should have more people like him in government.

“Show me one person he has killed. He has not killed anybody. He has not ordered the killing of anybody. Discard the fake news. The man is stabilising a government among a section of youths, which we want them to come and join in nation-building. They should not throw him away. Leave him. He is not a terrorist sympathiser.

“And you people are fighting them. No. You should get more people like Pantami and put them in power. It will stabilise. Don’t remove him. You’ll regret.”