Embattled Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, says some unnamed persons are planning to release some doctored videos to besmirch his reputation.
Pantami disclosed this in a statement issued by his media aide, Uwa Suleiman, yesterday.
The minister said the move was the next plot by those he described as “forces against him” to cast him in bad light.
Pantami has been in the eye of the storm recently following the videos and audios released by an online media platform to prove his avowed sympathies for terrorist organisations like Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the past.
Although he owned up to making some extremist comments in the past which he said he had renounced because he made them out of immaturity, many Nigerians have insisted he should resign or be sacked.
The presidency has, however, ruled out the possibility of sacking him, alleging that information and communications technology (ICT) companies are the ones behind calls for the minister’s removal.
But yesterday, the minister in a statement by his aide said there were efforts underway by some people to launch another attack on his reputation.
The statement read, “We are in receipt of credible intelligence that the same forces, who have been championing a well-coordinated and richly funded campaign against Pantami, are now unto the next stage of their diabolic project.
“This time around, the forces of evil are shopping for willing partners as well as their usual avenues to release doctored videos purporting to show the minister in an alleged compromising condition as a way of creating injury on his image.
“We are least surprised by this recent move which is a clear intensification of their desperation, having failed in their assault on the personality of the minister, despite their previous efforts.”
The minister said the notice was to alert the public to the latest plan and to warn the perpetrators about the consequences of such action.
The statement indicated that the minister would not sit idly to see his reputation as a community leader, Islamic scholar and public servant being muddled in the mud by paid agents.
It warned of consequences, although the minister was mute on what such consequences could be.
