Most were criminals that got convicted in different prisons abroad for one crime or the other. Some of them were drug barons, some of them were human traffickers, shoplifters and that were their past lives. These are the brand new saints that have turned into moral police in my own land simply because they have political power and stolen wealth engage the so called PR experts.
But Pantami’s life today is a refined version of who he was. He was never involved in moving drugs from coast to coast, he had no single criminal record from any country he had ever visited. His political sin is that of a cleric joining politics.
He was born and brought up in a region that produces over 10 million Almajiris in a decade or so. His region has large number of Sheiks, Sufis, Malams, Ulamas and those were his source of inspirations. He was one of the few that took to the podium and started preaching at his teenage years and today he is one of the best who also combined preaching with public service as a politicians. How can he be allowed to set this record?
It is no news that Pantami’s school of thought is that of the Sunni and we all know that Saudi Arabia is home to Sunni and was never in tune with the position of Isreali occupation against Palestine. At some point in our lives, the Gaza conflict was the topic that dominate all political and religious space in the world, until Football and social media replaced it. The September 11 attack in USA was also another moment that the world was sentimentally divided because Osama Bin Laden was the principal suspect. Osama from a prominent family in Saudi Arabia turned terrorists against the West, same west that had/have good economic ties with Saudi Arabia. Till tomorrow there individual clerics that are tough and harsh against America that lived in Saudi but they are never tagged as having ties or sentimental to terrorists.
Vividly, it was a difficult moment for Islam to be free from blame and many other opponents took advantage of the global outcry and emotions to slain Islam. In summary, Arab gulf political war versus western world made great impact on the lives of Muslims in other parts of the world including Nigeria and to be precise, Northern Nigeria. In those days, you hardly can come across one Islamic cleric or preacher that did not condemn America’s agenda in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Somali, etc.
Today’s question is that, was Pantami’s ideology different from that of Sheik Mahmud Gumi and his son? What did late Sheik Jaafar Adam preached that Pantami did not preached? What of the position of late Auwal Albanin Zaria that shared same views with that of Pantami today. The last 2 were totally against the ideology of Muhammad Yusuf of Boko Haram and they gave their best of time to tame him and finally ended up loosing their lives. Even with that, Pantami did not relent. He fought the deadly ideology of Muhammad Yusuf openly. If Pantami who was like any other cleric took to the position of the larger majority and likely made uncomfortable remarks in those days, how does it confirm that Pantami had any ties with terrorist? Which of the terrorists group and how?
Talking about his days in ATBU and the politics that played out between a group of people that were closed to those in charge of the authority and him is laughable. They wanted to take control of the Friday Mosque and the only way they could achieve that is to dent him. If you knew what happened then, you will live to respect and cherish the humility of the younger version of Dr Isa Ali Pantami the more. Again, to take him out today, we are trying to do the same thing that was done to him in those those!!!
In the our political space, a medical doctor is free to join politics even when he faked his document. We also now that an ex army is free to join politics even if he has no certificate. Any other criminal that ran cartel or escaped jail term from any part of the world is free to excel in politics and seek for presidency. But, for religious young man that study deep and also acquired good grades and multiple degrees in western education, coupled with the fact that he is from the Almajiri infested region, he should be blackmailed and thrown out by all means! What a country!!
IF WE ALL THINK THAT PANTAMI IS THE PROBLEM OF NIGERIA OR BUHARI’S ADMINISTRATION, THEN WE SHOULD KNOW THAT NIGERIANS NEED PRAYERS. IF YOU AGREE THAT NIGERIA NEED PRAYERS, THEN NIGERIA NEED MORE OF THE PANTAMIS THAT ARE GOOD AT WORK AND PRAYERS.
