•By Halimah Olamide
A concerned Nigerian, Itumo Martins, has told former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Alli Pantami, that Nigerians will lose confidence in the authenticity and efficacy of the sim card and National Identity Number registrations his office handled while in office.
The critic said for accepting an offer by an unnamed friend of his to pay the N50m ransom demanded by kidnappers five remaining daughters of Mansoor Khadirya, the former Minister is indirecting telling Nigerians that all the promises he made that NIN and SIM cards registrations would end kidnapping and other forms of crimes were fake.
NPO Reported that a friend of the former minister had offered to pay the remaining N50m ransom demanded by kidnappers of the Abuja six daughters of Alhaji Mansoor Al-Kadirya.
The post read in part;
““Alhamdu lil Laah! I am personally not in support of paying ransom to criminals.
“However, since it becomes clear, we lost our daughter Nabeeha yesterday, and the 5 remaining daughters have been threatened, as I spoke with the father on the matter yesterday and today.
“Furthermore, I spoke with a friend and a brother who offered to pay the remaining 50 million Naira of the 60m immediately.”
While replying to the former Minister’s X post, Martins noted that telecommunication companies, NIMC, NCC and the Ministry of Information should be able to trace the data of phone numbers used to initiate the ransom negotiations.
“Sir, if I were in your shoes. I should be able to call one or two persons at NIMC, NCC, the telcos & the Ministry to track the personal data/location of the phone numbers being used to conduct this ransom negotiation.
“You’re making Nigerians lose trust in all the works you did with NIN.” He said.
The former communication minister is known for spearheading the SIM and NIN linkage registration, which took effect in April, 2022
The implementation aimed at aiding the government’s strategic planning, particularly in the areas of security and eliminating cases of kidnapping in the country.
The Minister had then promised with NIN and SIM card registrations, it would be virtually impossible for criminals to use telephone lines to make contacts or negotiate ransoms.