Former Industrial Chemistry lecturer at the Kaduna State University, Prof. Samuel Achi said embattled Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami was the Chief Imam of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) mosque when some Muslim students strangled his son, Sunday Achi, to death at the mosque over alleged blasphemy.
The senior Achi, 67, stated this in an interview with The Punch.
He recalled that his 24-year-old son was murdered on December 9, 2000, at ATBU, Bauchi State over an allegation that he circulated Christian tracts that blasphemed Prophet Mohammed.
The don said his son was a 400-level student of Architecture and leader of the students’ fellowship of the Evangelical Church Winning All Ministry in the institution when the incident occurred.
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Prof Achi said that the tract in question contained no blasphemous content but the Pantami-led Muslim community in the school declared a “fatwa” on his son that led to his killing.
He added that the Muslim students that perpetrated the act threw his son’s body off ATBU Mosque.
The senior Achi said he was able to retrieve Sunday’s body for burial only with the intervention of then Governors of Kaduna and Bauchi States, Ahmed Makarfi and Adamu Mu’azu, respectively.
Pantami has faced increasing calls for his resignation or removal over alleged support for terrorist groups, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the early 2000s.
However, he said he renounced his extremist views, blaming immaturity for some of his previous “controversial comments” that have now put him in the eyes of the storm.