"I Have Changed Several Positions Taken In The Past" - Isa Pantami Says

 

Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Ali Isa Pantami, has been under fire over comments which were interpreted as endorsing the extremist sects. Social media users and some government critics have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to fire him if he fails to step down.

But while answering questions during his daily Ramadan lecture at Annor Mosque in Abuja on Saturday, the minister said he now knows better about some of the comments he made in the past.

He said the campaign against him is politically motivated.

“For 15 years, I even have moved round the united states at the same time as instructing humans about the risks of terrorism. I even have traveled to Katsina, Gombe, Borno, Kano states and Difa in Niger Republic to evangelise towards terrorism.

“I actually have engaged those with Boko Haram ideologies in exclusive places. I were writing pamphlets in Hausa, English and Arabic. I even have managed to convey again numerous younger people who have derailed from the proper route.

“Some of the comments I made a few years in the past that are producing controversies now were based on my understanding of non secular troubles on the time, and I actually have changed numerous positions taken in the past primarily based on new evidence and adulthood.

“I became younger once I made some of the feedback; I turned into in college, some of the remarks had been made after I turned into a youngster. I started out preaching after I turned into 13, many students and people did no longer recognize a number of worldwide activities and consequently took a few positions based on their understanding, some have come to trade their positions later.”