Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami has said he was set to sue a national daily for publishing a report that he has been placed on the watch-list by the United States government.
Michael Jonathan Numa, counsel to the minister and Senior Partner of the Karina Tunyan and Company, made the declaration on Pantami’s behalf through a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday.
While acknowledging that the newspaper had retracted the report through a tweet on its Twitter handle, the minister noted that “such grave and unverified allegations cannot be wished away by a bland and emotionless tweet which does not show contriteness for the immeasurable and malignant damage done to our Client’s pristine reputation”.
Pantami said there was no other option for him on the matter except to “pursue every legal means to guard his hard-earned reputation as indicated in his letter of 12th April, 2021.
The statement further declared:
“We continue to act as Counsel to Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, the Honourable Minister of Communication and Digital Economy hereinafter referred to as our client and on whose express instruction we issue this press release.
“Our client’s attention has been drawn to a purported ‘Retraction’ of the unfounded front-page headline publication on the Sunday Edition of the Daily Independent Newspaper dated 11th day of April 2021, with the title ‘Disquiet as America Places Nigerian Minister on Watch List.’
“The newspaper article had contained grave defamatory statements impugning the hard-earned reputation of our client.
“The Daily Independent Newspaper has now purportedly retracted the grossly libelous statements and allegations via its Twitter handle (@IndependentNGR) on the 14th day of April 2021, claiming that they have realised that the publication ‘has not been verified to be true.
“This is an affirmation of the high level of irresponsibility exhibited by the media house which prides itself as ‘the most read newspaper among the political and business elites.
“A defamatory publication containing such grave and unverified allegations cannot be wished away by a bland and emotionless tweet which does not show contriteness for the immeasurable and malignant damage done to our Client’s pristine reputation.
“The said retraction having not met our client’s demand leaves us with no option than to pursue every legal means to guard the hard-earned reputation of our client as earlier indicated in our letter of 12th April, 2021.”
In his first response to the allegations, Pantami said that he had been speaking against extremism for more than 15 years.
“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. If you can’t understand Hausa, get an objective Hausa speaker to translate for you objectively,” Pantami said in the tweet.
The minister used the opportunity to reiterate the government’s determination to pursue to a logical conclusion the ongoing linkage of citizens’ National Identity Numbers to their SIMs.
“On the issue of NIN-SIM verification to fight insecurity, there is no going back. Our priority as a government based on the provision of our constitution 1999 (as amended) Section 14(2)b is security, not just economy. For sure, no going back at all. Let’s the sponsors continue,” he added.
He declared that no amount of intimidation will stop him from implementing the good policies of President Muhammadu Buhari on security.
“If you are yet to verify your SIM using NIN, do it very soon, b4 our next action. Criminals are feeling the heat,” he said.
