Pantami: 'Fake videos of me are about to be released'

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has alerted the nation that "doctored videos" portraying him in "compromising position" will soon be issued into cyber space.

The embattled Pantami, an Islamic cleric and scholar, has been under pressure to resign after his past radical remarks and teachings, wherein he hailed terrorists and applauded religious extremism, found their way to the internet.

The minister renounced the remarks as pressure mounted on him to relinquish his exalted office in the federal government, saying he was too young and immature at the time he offered them, even though some of the remarks were made whilst he was in his '30s.

In a statement issued on his behalf by his media aide, Uwa Suleiman, Pantami said: “We are in receipt of credible intelligence that the same forces who have been championing a well-coordinated and richly funded campaign against Pantami, are now onto the next stage of their diabolic project.

“This time around, the forces of evil are shopping for willing partners as well as their usual avenues to release doctored videos purporting to show the minister in an alleged compromising condition as a way of creating injury on his image.

“We are least surprised by this recent move which is a clear intensification of their desperation, having failed in their assault on the personality of the minister, despite their previous efforts.

“After concocting lies and half-truths linking the Honourable Minister with terrorism, despite his well-documented stance against Boko Haram and similar groups, these adversaries went to the extent of doctoring a document with capacity to endanger national security."

The minister said he is alerting the public about the latest plot in order to warn the perpetrators of the consequences of their action.

Pantami added that he would not sit idly and watch his reputation as a community leader, Islamic scholar and public servant dragged in the mud by "paid agents."

Presidential backing

President Muhammadu Buhari has backed the under-fire Pantami, saying through his spokesperson, Garba Shehu, that the 48-year-old minister has become the latest victim of "cancel culture."

President Muhammadu Buhari (L) and Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami (Punch) Pulse Nigeria

"The minister has, rightly, apologized for what he said in the early 2000s. The views were absolutely unacceptable then and would be equally unacceptable today, were he to repeat them. But he will not repeat them — for he has publicly and permanently condemned his earlier utterances as wrong.

"In the 2000s, the minister was a man in his twenties; next year he will be 50. Time has passed, and people and their opinions — often rightly — change," the president said in the statement.