A document making the rounds has tied Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami to a plot to assassinate former Governor of Kaduna State, Patrick Yakowa.
The document shared by online news medium, Peoples Gazette showed that Pantami presided over a meeting of Muslim leaders in which a plan was allegedly hatched to eliminate Yakowa, who was the first Christian governor of Kaduna.
According to the document, the meeting of the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) was chaired by Pantami on July 13, 2010, at the Bauchi Central Mosque.
The JNI is a foremost Islamic body led by Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar.
The document, which was supposedly the communique of the meeting, stated that the Muslim leaders agreed to eliminate Yakowa and his family because he was a Christian leading a Muslim-majority state in the north.
Yakowa died in a helicopter crash alongside former National Security Adviser (NSA), Owoeye Patrick Azazi on December 15, 2012.
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Appointed Deputy Governor in July 2005 and 2007, he was sworn in as Governor on 20 May 2010, replacing former governor Namadi Sambo, who had been sworn in as Vice President the day before.
His death occurred two years after he became governor of Kaduna, which is divided between Muslims and Christians but a Muslim majority, and two years after the meeting of the Muslim leaders.
It could not be established if the meeting’s outcome had any role to play in the helicopter crash that killed Yakowa.
The meeting stated that Yakowa was planning to contest the 2011 governorship election in the state and had the backing of then-President Goodluck Jonathan, also a Christian.
Peoples Gazette reported that Pantami declined to comment for the story.
See screenshots of the communique:
#PantamiResignNow
Minutes of Meeting of JNI Chaired by Isa Pantami pic.twitter.com/3dT7vcb20H
— Great Oracle (@AbdulMahmud01) April 21, 2021