A Lying Liar Was Caught Lying On Twitter

It all started with Dr. Isa Pantami, the Nigerian Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, being exposed for harbouring extremist Islamic views and being sympathetic to such groups as al-Qaeda and Boko Haram. As his odious track record has emerged in the past couple of weeks, revealing a man of extreme religious views, outraged Nigerians have been demanding he be relieved of his appointment.

Several documents, including audios and videos, have emerged profiling a man of violence and bigotry.  One such document shows the minister as having chaired a July 2010 of the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), in which he plotted with other Muslim leaders to violently wipe away Christians from the northern parts of Nigeria. That meeting also featured a plot to kill Patrick Yakowa, the then-Christian governor of Kaduna State for simply being a Christian leading a state in the Muslim-dominated North.  Dr. Yakowa subsequently died in a mysterious helicopter crash in 2012, one year after he won a substantive term in office.

Isa Pantami

In one sermon from the 2000s he said he considered al-Qaeda founder, Osama Bin Laden, a better Muslim than himself, and in another, he said he was happy when infidels were massacred.

However, President Buhari has ignored pleas to remove Pantami from the cabinet.  In a press statement signed by spokesman Garba Shehu, the presidency claimed that Pantami made the statements when he was “young” and has apologised for them.

“The views were absolutely unacceptable then, and would be equally unacceptable today, were he to repeat them,” it said. “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 presidency, via Garba Shehu, then went after those calling for Pantami to be sacked, claiming that the embattled minister was being subjected to a cancel campaign.

“They do not really care what he may or may not have said some 20 years ago: that is merely the instrument they are using to attempt to ‘cancel’ him,” Shehu said.  “But they will profit should he be stopped from making decisions that improve the lives of everyday Nigerians.”

Today, there is an unfortunate fashion in public discourse that makes leaders in politics, religion, and civil society liable in the present for every statement they have ever made in the past – no matter how long ago, and even after they have later rejected them.

— Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) April 22, 2021

But this has not stopped calls for his sacking or resignation with many using the #PantamiMustGo hashtag on Twitter to express concerns over his access to sensitive data as the minister of communications.

He has also been defended under the #PantamiMustStay hashtag as the issue has exposed the religious and ethnic lines in this multi-ethnic country.

To the support for Pantami, social reform activist Ayo Sogunro reacted with a series of tweets condemning the hypocrisy of Nigerians, pointing out how they’d rather support a terrorist than let LGBTQ Nigerians live.

“Nigerians will unite to condemn a queer person simply for being queer than unite to condemn a confirmed terrorist sympathizer who has been implicated in a murder,” he tweeted.

When this tweet riled some Nigerians on social media into denying that there’s any united stand against queer people, Ayo pointed out the receipts. “Since many are now forgetful: LGBT people tried to make a visible stand during End SARS, Nigerians resisted. A man went to Abuja on hunger strike against the SSMPA last month. Nigerians dragged him for days. A few days back, a man was dragged for his ‘queer’ clothes.”

And this was when the homophobic gaslighters emerged. A lady who goes with the Twitter handle @euphrocyn responded to Sogunro’s claims by telling the most outrageous lie ever held against queer Nigerians.

“I see homosexual men in public places in Lagos, doing what straight people would never ever try outside. This one is giving flimsy examples here and there. Sigh.”

This was such a blatant attempt at gaslighting the queer experience in a homophobic country such as Nigeria, that Nigerian Twitter reacted in one accord to call this person out on her lie. The tweet has about 180 quote retweets all pointing out how this Twitter user could give the Devil a run for his money.

Check out some of the reactions below: