There is disquiet in the land at the weekend following an allegation that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Alhaji Isa Ali Ibrahim, also known as Sheikh Pantami, has fallen on the watch list of America’s Intelligence Service.
Ibrahim, also the Deputy Secretary-General of the Supreme Sharia Council in Nigeria and a former student of Salafist ideologies, was trained in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East with other top Islamic jihadists.
Before he was appointed a minister, Ibrahim was a known Islamic preacher and held what was termed ‘dangerous views’ against the American government with allegiance to Al-Qaeda.
According to a report, the minister was said to be a very close confidant of the late Mohammed Yusuf, the killed leader of Boko Haram with whom he allegedly shared jihadist doctrines.
According to Western Intelligence, the minister had ties with Abu Quatada al Falasimi and other Al-Qaeda leaders that he revered and spoke glowingly of in several of his videos on YouTube.
In one of his narratives, Ibrahim had eulogized Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi as a great leader, who joined the Al-Qaeda group after emigrating to Afghanistan at the end of the September 11, 2001 terror attack on the World Trade Centre in America.
This is what he wrote about Abu Musab: “Under the Osama’s leadership, he became the unit commander of the army of AlQaeda with the support of the Commander of the loyal Maula Umar (Taliban leader)
