The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, has denied having any link with the Boko Haram insurgent group as alleged in a viral report.
The Minister is demanding public apology and retraction of the story published by Daily Independent newspapers claiming he is on a U.S watch list over alleged link with the sect.
Pantami, through the legal firm of Karina Tunyan, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, demanded that the newspaper retract the story it published in its Sunday edition within 24 hours or face legal consequences.
The report, which emerged on Sunday, said Pantami had been placed on the list over alleged ties with the late Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf.
The Presidency had reacted to the reports on Monday, describing the report as fake. President Muhammadu Buhari’s aide on New Media, Basir Ahmad, said Pantami had never been on any U.S watch list.
In the letter signed by Michael Jonathan Numa, and addressed to the managing director/editor-in-chief of the newspaper, the lawyers said Pantami’s reputation as a scholar and notable public figure was badly damaged by the publication; therefore, the media organization must write a letter of apology to him and publish it in five newspapers.
“That you convene a press conference to publicly announce your retraction while dissociating our client from the false claims you made which are seriously injurious to our client’s personality,” the lawyers said.
According to the lawyer, failure to comply with the demand within the stipulated time would make them to commence a process of instituting defamation suit against the paper and all persons involved.
The Inspector-General of Police, Director-General of the Department of the State Security (DSS), and the National Intelligence Agency (NIN) were copied in the letter.
