• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • NAHCON

      Renewed Hope in Hajj Operations: NAHCON Records Milestone Achievements Under Tinubu…

      Mohammed Idris Malagi, Honorable Minister of Information and National Orientation

      FG Reaffirms Non-Interference in ICPC, EFCC Operations

      ICPC Secures Conviction of Rector for Running Unaccredited Degree Programmes

      Engr Abba Babagana Dalori

      Engr Dalori Forfeits Galaxy Hospital, Petrol Station, Properties & Cash

      Chinese nationals jailed in Lagos

      Court Jails Nine Chinese Nationals for Cybercrime in Lagos

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • FG, States, LGs Share N2.225trn Revenue for August – FAAC

      Nigeria Customs Aligns with Finance Ministry over 4% FOB Policy Review

      Members Board of Directors of Dangote Refinery

      Dangote Refinery Deploys 4,000 CNG Trucks, Promises 24,000 Jobs as Fuel…

      Renewed Hope in Central Banking

      Book Review: Renewed Hope in Central Banking – A Blueprint for…

      NAHCON

      Renewed Hope in Hajj Operations: NAHCON Records Milestone Achievements Under Tinubu…

  • National
    • NAF Air Strikes Kill Scores of Terrorists, Destroy Enclaves in Borno

      FG, States, LGs Share N2.225trn Revenue for August – FAAC

      Tinubu Lifts State of Emergency in Rivers, Reinstates Fubara, Legislators

      Crowned Prince Salman of Saudi Arabia

      Saudi Frees Nigerian Pilgrims Framed by Drug Syndicate

      President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Minister of Women Affairs Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim presenting a cheque to women

      Renewed Hope Agenda: Group Passes Vote Of Confidence On Tinubu’s Minister,…

    • Government
      • FG, States, LGs Share N2.225trn Revenue for August – FAAC

        ICPC Secures Six-Year Jail Term for Sokoto River Basin Director

        Chairman NAHCON Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman meets with Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda

        NAHCON Boss Meets Katsina Governor, Pushes for Early 2026 Hajj Payments,…

        MURIC to Alaafin: No Law Grants You Power to Appoint Chief…

        President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Minister of Women Affairs Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim presenting a cheque to women

        Renewed Hope Agenda: Group Passes Vote Of Confidence On Tinubu’s Minister,…

  • Security
    • NAF Air Strikes Kill Scores of Terrorists, Destroy Enclaves in Borno

      ICPC Secures Six-Year Jail Term for Sokoto River Basin Director

      Police Officer

      Kaduna Police Arrest Two Suspects Over Illegal Possession of Firearms

      Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar,meets with Security Leaders in Beijing

      Badaru Joins Global Leaders at Beijing Forum on Peace, Security

      Crowned Prince Salman of Saudi Arabia

      Saudi Frees Nigerian Pilgrims Framed by Drug Syndicate

  • Features
    • A Group of Terrorists/Bandits

      Nigeria Fights Back Against Banditry and Insecurity By Senator Iroegbu

      A Group of Terrorists/Bandits

      Nigeria Fights Back Against Banditry and Insecurity

      Engr. Suleiman Bolakale Kawu Agaka

      Engr. Kawu: A Heroic Homecoming for a Man of the People…

      Prof Isa Pantami, former Minister of Communication and Digital Economy

      Gombe Tech Training: Pantami’s Call for a Paradigm Shift By Muhd…

      Healing Nigeria: A Chronicle of Health Reforms

      Book Review: Is This the Cure? A Look into Healing Nigeria…

  • State
    • ICPC Secures Six-Year Jail Term for Sokoto River Basin Director

      Chairman NAHCON Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman meets with Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda

      NAHCON Boss Meets Katsina Governor, Pushes for Early 2026 Hajj Payments,…

      Police Officer

      Kaduna Police Arrest Two Suspects Over Illegal Possession of Firearms

      Crowned Prince Salman of Saudi Arabia

      Saudi Frees Nigerian Pilgrims Framed by Drug Syndicate

      MURIC to Alaafin: No Law Grants You Power to Appoint Chief…

  • Event
    • Chairman NAHCON Professor Abdullahi Saleh Usman meets with Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda

      NAHCON Boss Meets Katsina Governor, Pushes for Early 2026 Hajj Payments,…

      Flier for the programs that happened for the elderly by members of BUKAA FCT

      BUKAA FCT Appreciates Sponsors after Aerobics, Football Exercises

      Prof. Abubakar Mu’azu

      UNIMAID appoints Prof. Mu’azu as Pioneer Dean, Faculty of Communication

      NIPR President Ike Neliaku

      NIPR Inducts 422 New Members, Urges Commitment to National Unity

      Baze University Management visits TETFUND, Showcases Tech-Driven Growth, National Impact

    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Home Features Pantami in the Eyes of the Law By Yunus Abdulsalam
  • Features

Pantami in the Eyes of the Law By Yunus Abdulsalam

By
Yunus Abdulsalam
-
May 12, 2021
Professor Ali Pantami
Professor Ali Pantami

Pantami in the Eyes of the Law
By Yunus Abdulsalam

The labyrinth of accusations and counter-accusations surrounding the uproar over the hitherto sympathetic gesture of  the Honourable Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami for Al-Qaeda is another classic example of how objectivity always become the sacrificial lamb in the alter of our inordinate sentiments.

One of the saddening features discernible from virtually every issue of national discourse is the recurring decimal to see reactions and commentaries being tailored along ethnic, religious, political or other primordial sentiments.  And honestly speaking, this Pantami furore is not an exception.

My focus here will be on the legal and moral implications of what  Pantami did or said about 20 years ago as a private citizen.

In a country notorious for public interest litigations against public office holders suspected to have committed even minor infractions of the law, such as the cases of Ibrahim Magu erstwhile EFCC Chairman, former Ministers  Adebayo Shittu & Kemi Adeosun and recently the immediate past IGP Abubakar Adamu, is it not surprising that we are yet to see any lawsuit seeking for declaration that Pantami is unfit to hold public office? Or is this just another case of some fringe elements with ulterior motives doing as much as they can to damage the integrity of the Honourable minister?

This writer is not unaware of the contention from some quarters that the call for Pantami’s resignation is premised on breach of some moral codes. However I am curious to know how morality becomes superior to the law. The unassailable truth is that legality takes precedent over morality that is why lawmakers often take the moral standard of the society into consideration before arriving at any law. In fact, law remains the best standard of determining the moral standard of any society.

For instance, despite the prevalence of same-sex relationship all over the world and the facts that Nigerians love imitating anything associated with foreigners, our law criminalized  such practice despite the oppositions by western countries. Thus, law is the substratum upon which an egalitarian society is built upon.

It would therefore be safe to conclude that unless what Pantami did was in breach of the law as at that material, then the call for him to resign based on the misplaced logic of him having breached an undefined moral code is not only misguided, ungrounded but mischievous.

It is pertinent to emphasize that the above should not be misconstrued as admission that  Pantami might have breached any moral code because he has not in any way. But I only made such comparison of law and moral code to establish the unsoundness and illogicality of the arguments of those calling on him to resign purely for alleged breach of a phantom moral code.

Read Also:

  • NAF Air Strikes Kill Scores of Terrorists, Destroy Enclaves in Borno
  • FG, States, LGs Share N2.225trn Revenue for August – FAAC
  • ICPC Secures Six-Year Jail Term for Sokoto River Basin Director

Under our criminal jurisprudence, the intention to commit an offence technically referred to as mens rea which is very  essential  among other ingredients required for an accused person to be criminally liable, is much stronger than having a mere sympathy for the perpetrators of an offence.  It is inconceivable to see and I am yet to be told of any law in which sympathy is the required mens rea.

Besides, the existence of mens rea without the requisite actus rea, which in this case will be the taking part in the planning or execution of an act of terror,will be insufficient to convict an accused person. In other words both the guilty intention which is not present in this case of Pantami and the guilty act which no one has alleged against him must co-exist before Pantami could be deemed to have committed any offence. This position of the law has received judicial blessings in plethora of judicial authorities. See the cases of Abeke vs State (2007) 9 NWLR (PT. 1040) 411, Ibikunle vs State (2005) 1  NWLR (PT. 907) 387.

Assuming without conceding that the sympathetic gestures 20 years ago was an offence, then for the fact that  Pantami has purged himself of that  controversial statements and beliefs long before this public outcry to the extent that he had an open debate with the founder and former leader of Boko Haram, Muhammad Yusuf and which put his life under threat by the present leader of the group  Abubakar Shekau who declared  his blood ‘halal’ or ‘lawful’, the position of the law is that Pantami will be exonerated by Section 25 of the Criminal Code  pursuant to defence of mistaken belief in a state of affairs.

The import of that section is that where a person acts under a mistaken belief as to some state of fact he honestly believes to exist, and in the process an illegal act is committed, the defence of mistake will avail such a person. See Board of Customs & Excise v. Barau (1982) 10 SC 4. The point is that if the law can avail a person for an offence committed under a mistaken belief, how magnanimous would you think the law would be on Pantami who did not commit any offence at that material time but merely made a sympathetic gesture under a mistaken beliefs which he had divested himself from in a manner that has made him subject of target by deadly Boko Haram?

For once let us pretend to be objective as the law. Can one call Sheikh Gumi a bandit because he believed the bandits terrorizing some communities could have some justifications for their nefarious activities? Rev, Fr Mbaka recently called Nnamdi kanu, a wanted fugitive his anointed son; will that be sufficient to link him to the series of crimes and atrocities alleged committed by kanu and his group IPOB ? Let not forget that IPOB has already designated a terrorist organisation under the Nigerian law but the group  has been receiving tacit support from eminent personalities from their region of extraction, yet no one is calling for the heads of those sympathizers.

Pantami is another victim of how our toxic perspective to national issues strays public discourse into our artificial fault lines. The Honourable Minister should however be consoled by his unprecedented and incontrovertible giant strides in his ministry and the exculpatory position of our law in his favour.

Abdulsalam, a legal practitioner writes from Abuja

VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa/
EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
  • TAGS
  • buhari
  • Digital Economy
  • Pantami
  • Terrorism
Previous articleDefence Minister Seeks Spiritual Weapons to Defeat Adversaries
Next articleUnknown Gunmen: Security Forces Nab Awurum Eze, another Most Wanted IPOB Leader in South-East
Yunus Abdulsalam
Yunus Abdulsalam
Xing

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

A Group of Terrorists/Bandits

Nigeria Fights Back Against Banditry and Insecurity By Senator Iroegbu

A Group of Terrorists/Bandits

Nigeria Fights Back Against Banditry and Insecurity

Engr. Suleiman Bolakale Kawu Agaka

Engr. Kawu: A Heroic Homecoming for a Man of the People By Adegboyega Ajadi

Prof Isa Pantami, former Minister of Communication and Digital Economy

Gombe Tech Training: Pantami’s Call for a Paradigm Shift By Muhd El-Bonga Ibraheem

Healing Nigeria: A Chronicle of Health Reforms

Book Review: Is This the Cure? A Look into Healing Nigeria By Hanniel Noboh

Diplomacy and Digital Innovation – Youth Insight

Book Review: Reshaping Diplomacy Through Digital Innovation – A Gen-Z Outlook By Bilkisu Ahmed Shekarau

Renewed Hope in Central Banking

Book Review: Renewed Hope in Central Banking – A Blueprint for Nigeria’s Economic Future By Khadijah Lawan Muhammad

Charlie Kirk

Who Really Killed Charlie Kirk? By Femi Fani-Kayode

Officers of NSCDC Mining Marshals

Mining Marshals and the Fight for Nigeria’s Mineral Future By Zekeri Idakwo Laruba

Omoyele Sowore, Bayo Ononuga and Adeola Ajayi

Sowore’s Provocation, Onanuga’s Plea and the DSS Overreach

Ahmed Balarabe Sa'id

Renewed Hope and the Broadening Public Sphere By Ahmed Balarabe Sa’id

Traffic officials tolling the vehicle at the scene in Abuja

SPECIAL REPORT: Extortion, Blood and Impunity Behind Abuja’s Agbero Menace

Recent Posts

  • NAF Air Strikes Kill Scores of Terrorists, Destroy Enclaves in Borno
  • FG, States, LGs Share N2.225trn Revenue for August – FAAC
  • ICPC Secures Six-Year Jail Term for Sokoto River Basin Director
  • NAHCON Boss Meets Katsina Governor, Pushes for Early 2026 Hajj Payments, Promises Easier Exercise
  • Kaduna Police Arrest Two Suspects Over Illegal Possession of Firearms
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
© 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
Latest News
NAF Air Strikes Kill Scores of Terrorists, Destroy Enclaves in BornoFG, States, LGs Share N2.225trn Revenue for August – FAACICPC Secures Six-Year Jail Term for Sokoto River Basin DirectorNAHCON Boss Meets Katsina Governor, Pushes for Early 2026 Hajj Payments, Promises Easier ExerciseKaduna Police Arrest Two Suspects Over Illegal Possession of FirearmsTinubu Lifts State of Emergency in Rivers, Reinstates Fubara, LegislatorsBadaru Joins Global Leaders at Beijing Forum on Peace, SecuritySaudi Frees Nigerian Pilgrims Framed by Drug SyndicateTroops Ambush Bandits in Plateau, Neutralise One MURIC to Alaafin: No Law Grants You Power to Appoint Chief Imam of OyoRenewed Hope Agenda: Group Passes Vote Of Confidence On Tinubu’s Minister, Imaan Sulaiman-IbrahimNigeria Fights Back Against Banditry and Insecurity By Senator IroegbuNigeria Fights Back Against Banditry and InsecurityNavy Retrains Personnel on Weapon Handling to Boost Operational EfficiencyFirefighters Rescue Nine Victims from Burning 6-Storey Building in Lagos
X whatsapp