US Govt Places Nigerian Minister, Isa Pantami on Watch List For Links With Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda

Category: Terrorism News

The Minister of Com­munications and Digital Economy, Alhaji Isa Ali Ibrahim, also known as Sheikh Pantami, has reportedly been placed on the US watch list over a possible link with Al-Qaeda.

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 his appointment as 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 eulogised Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi as a great leader, who joined 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 army of AlQaeda with the support of the Commander of the loyal Maula Umar (Tali­ban leader).

“It was after the Sep­tember 11 attack that he suffered serious leg inju­ry and was taken to Iraq for treatment where he spent a long time recov­ering.”

Ibrahim wrote: “When Iraq was attacked by the enemies of God, this great man joined in the fight leading his group against the US military and its al­lies in Iraq.”

According to Middle Eastern Intelligence, corroborated by its West­ern counterparts, photo­graphs of Sheikh Isa Ali Pantanmi and his jihadist allies are trending.

Efforts to get the reac­tions of the minister to the critical allegations were futile as at press time.

However, one of his aides (names withheld) said the allegations were false.

The aide, who was very combative while speaking with Sunday Independent, was angry that the story would be published.

“You didn’t tell me you want to publish the sto­ry when you introduced yourself. In the first place, you did not address the Office of the Honourable Minister properly.

“This is a personal at­tack on somebody’s per­sonal belief and religion.

“This allegation is not coming from the Ameri­can government, but one useless organization. I am a journalist myself,” said the aide.