United States Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, has disclosed that the American system values freedom of speech and thought, hence it could not have denied its visa to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali-Pantami.

Some weeks ago, a report by a Nigerian newspaper had claimed that the United States placed the minister on their terror watchlist over alleged ties with terrorist groups.

John Campbell

The Daily Independent newspaper retracted its story and apologised to the minister some days after.

In a Facebook post which was signed by its editor, the medium noted that it had realised that the information contained in the story has not been verified to be true.

“Our attention has been drawn to the story with the above title, published in the Sunday Independent newspaper of April 11, 2021. We have since realized that the information contained in the story has not been verified to be true.

The Minister mentioned in the story, Alhaji Isa Ali Ibrahim, also known as Sheikh Pantami, is not known to be on American Terror Watch List, nor is he linked to terror organisations. We regret and sincerely apologise for the embarrassment our story has caused the Honourable Minister whom we hold in high regard,” Editor, Daily Independent wrote.