A video has gone viral online of a top Nigerian Army commander saying a repentant Boko Haram terrorist can emerge as President of Nigeria.
The video which has been generating lots of reactions comes amidst the controversies surrounding the allegations that Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami has links with some terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda, and Taliban.
According to the video, Gen Abdulmalik Biu said “an ex-Boko Haram stands having laid his arms and turned away from his negativity, he stands to be a president of this country, he stands to aspire to any position in this country.”
The army commander spoke on July 21, 2019 during an interview with journalists in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Biu is someone who has worked closely in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria, serving in various positions including the Acting General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division Nigerian Army and Commander Sector 1, Operation Lafiya Dole.
Watch the trending video below:
Ex Boko Haram members can become President. Maj. Gen Abdulmalik Biu. pic.twitter.com/3rXBnWmc6L
— $AYOBAMI (@dondekojo) April 22, 2021
Despite the controversies generated by the allegations against Pantami, Naija News reports President Muhammadu Buhari has said he won’t sack the Minister over his past comments in support of terrorist groups like Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Buhari made this known in a statement on Thursday titled ‘Statement by the Presidency on recent campaign against the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy,” released by his Special Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.
He said Pantami’s ordeal in the hands of those calling for his sack was not about his past utterances but about his current job as a minister.
Buhari backed Pantami’s explanation that he was young when he made those statements and that his position had since changed.
Meanwhile, President, Omega Fire Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleman has added his voice to the controversy surrounding the allegation of terrorism hanging on the neck of Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami.
In his reaction, the clergyman noted that one million Pantamis can’t stop the spread of Christianity in the North or anywhere in the world.
Naija News recalls Pantami has been accused of having links with and supporting terrorist organizations including Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda, and Taliban.
But the Minister in his defence said he is a changed person and the views he once held about some radical Islamic ideologies have changed with time.
He pleaded that he said most of the things for which he is under fire currently as a teenager but he’s a changed person now.
However, the calls for his resignation or for him to be sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari have continued to trend on social media.
Adding his voice to the saga, Apostle Suleman in a Twitter post on Thursday evening noted that separatist ideology can never produce good governance.