Is Isa Pantami on U.S terror watchlist? We asked the Department of States and FBI

The US Department of State, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have told Neusroom they cannot get involved in the reports claiming a Nigerian minister, Ali Isa Pantami, is on the U.S government’s watch list for alleged terrorism.

The Department of State, which is responsible for handling the United States’ foreign affairs, told our correspondent, in an email exchange, that questions regarding the U.S. terrorist watch list fall under the purview of the FBI.

Pantami, an Islamic scholar and Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, has debunked reports claiming he is on the U.S watchlist for terrorism.

In a series of Twitter posts, he explained that “My lectures against the doctrines and all other evil people have been available for over 15 years, including debates that endangered my life against many criminals in Nigeria.”

We sent him and his aides questions by email, they are yet to respond.

Meanwhile, a representative of the FBI told Neusroom that “consistent with our standard posture, the TSC [Terrorist Screening Center] can neither confirm nor deny whether an individual is on the watchlist.”

A couple of Nigerian digital platforms went to town with the story, which Pantami claims is false, without a thorough check.

Daily Independent, the Nigerian newspaper that first published the story has apologised to the Minister and retracted the report.

“We have since realized that the information contained in the story has not been verified to be true. The Minister mentioned in the story, Alhaji Isa Ali Ibrahim, also known as Sheikh Pantami, is not known to be on American Terror Watch List, nor is he linked to terror organisations,” the newspaper wrote on Twitter.

*Critics accuse Pantami of expressing religious views that suggest he supports the activities of Al-Qaeda, a global terrorist group. He has denied the claims. Photo: Twitter.*

Analysts continue to say Nigeria faces a huge misinformation and disinformation problem; caused by poor media gatekeeping and massive political agenda. It is expected to get worse as the 2023 elections near.

Last week, Buzzfeed News reported about a sponsored digital media campaign by some Nigerian social media influencers calling for the release of Alex Saab, an alleged money launderer for the Venezuelan government in detention in Cape Verde. The report implicated at least five Nigerian bloggers and influencers.

Pantami’s case appears to have also been sponsored, although we could not independently confirm this.

Apart from the risk posed by fake news, terrorism is a present risk for many Nigerians. According to the U.K government, up to seven terror groups – Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), Islamic State West Africa (ISWA), Islamic State Greater Sahara (ISGS), Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Al Murabitoun, Ansar Dine and Boko Haram, are present in Nigeria, with over 5,000 killed since 2009.

Neusroom also found old documented religious teachings of the Minister on the internet eulogising some men tagged terrorists by the U.S government, as claimed in the retracted report.

Some of Pantami’s teachings from the early-to-mid-2000s analysed in a report ‘Debating Boko Haram’ by Dr. Andrea Brigaglia of the Department of Religious Studies & Centre for Contemporary Islam, University of Cape Town, suggest that he holds ideological beliefs promoting Jihad in Nigeria and Al-Qaeda’s global Jihad.

In the report, Brigaglia analysed some audio recordings of Pantami’s public lectures in 2004 and 2006.

In a 20-minute lecture after the 2004 Yelwa Shendam massacres in Kebbi state where thousands of Muslims and Christians were killed, Pantami reportedly invited Muslims to be skeptical of politicians and religious leaders calling for peace and understanding, and to retaliate with jihad.

The third of six mass graves for victims of the 2004 Yelwa attacks. About 7,500 people were also displaced from their homes. Photo: Human Rights Watch.

He was quoted to have said: “This jihad is an obligation for every single believer, especially in Nigeria.”

Subsequently, he offered himself “as a volunteer to mobilise the Hisba police and to be appointed as the ‘commander’ of a militia ready to travel to Yelwa Shendam to join the fight in defense of the Muslims,” the author wrote.

He concluded with the prayer: “Oh God, give victory to the Taliban and to al-Qaeda.”

In a lecture delivered by Pantami in 2006, he reportedly offered his public condolences and prayers for the death of Abū Muṣ‘ab al-Zarqāwī, a Jordanian jihadist who ran a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, after his death.

Pantami is also accused of offering public condolences and prayers for Abū Muṣʿab al-Zarqāwī, a Jordanian-born militant who led insurgent attacks in Iraq. He was killed by U.S. forces in 2006. Photo: Britannica.

His introductory words, according to the CCI report, are as follows:

“May God have mercy on Aḥmad alFāḍil al-Khalayleh, raḥmatullāh ‘alayhi. May God forgive his mistakes. He is a human being, he has certainly some mistakes in front of God, so may God forgive his mistakes. Who am I talking about? He is Abū Muṣ‘ab al-Zarqāwī…he was given responsibility for a camp in Herat. It was the Commander of the Faithful (Amīr almu’minīn) Mollah Omar ‒ may God preserve him ‒ who personally gave him the authority to run this camp.”

Neusroom cannot immediately confirm if Pantami still holds some of those views as emails sent to him and his aides are yet to get a response.

However, some Nigerians on social media, tweeting with the hashtag #PantamiResign, are now calling for the resignation of the minister over some of the beliefs expressed in his old teachings which they say portray him as a terrorism sympathiser.

In some of the tweets reviewed by Neusroom, those calling for Pantami’s resignation claim that anyone holding such beliefs promoting violence and Jihad is a threat to national security and should not hold a position in government which can be used to promote divisive and violent agenda.

There are also others supporting him. The Muslim Right Council (MURIC) described the report as “a product of malice, envy and evil desire concocted in the laboratory of the notorious ‘pull him down’ syndrome.”

Born October 1972 in Gombe State, Pantami spent more than four years at Tsangaya School, a traditional School for memorising the Quran before enrolling in a primary school. He studied Computer Science at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi State.

He was also trained at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S, International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Loussaune, Switzerland, and Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen in Scotland, where he obtained his PhD.

He is Deputy Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Sharia (SCS) in Nigeria. Before his appointment as Minister in 2019, he was Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).