SaharaReporters learnt that Pantami and Yusuf would grant such licences to companies linked to their cronies and associates in the Aso Rock Villa, cabals, as well as a close ally of the “president-elect”, Bola Tinubu.
Isa Ali Pantami, Nigeria's Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, and Sabiu "Tunde" Yusuf, President Muhammadu Buhari's personal secretary, have allegedly colluded to grant licences for broadcast frequencies in the 600MHz spectrum band by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in the twilight of the Buhari administration.
SaharaReporters learnt that Pantami and Yusuf would grant such licences to companies linked to their cronies and associates in the Aso Rock Villa, cabals, as well as a close ally of the “president-elect”, Bola Tinubu.
A source within the presidency confirmed this to SaharaReporters on Saturday, adding that Pantanmi and Tunde had also been attempting to shift earnings from sales to private bank accounts, which is another attempt to siphon additional public assets before handing over to the incoming government.
This mischief also included a 50% discount on the licence.
It was further revealed that one of the companies that were granted the licences is MAFAB Communications, a company allegedly linked to Bola Tinubu, the incoming president of the country.
It was gathered that the four licences were issued and shared between Pantami, Tunde, MAFAB Communications, and another company linked to a cabal within the Aso Rock Villa.
The source said, “They gave one to Tunde and one to Pantami; one to another company linked to Aso Rock Villa cabals. They now have one to Mafab – a man linked to Tinubu so that he can protect them from the next regime. In fact the NCC initially advertised the licence but the minister told them to forget it and award the licence to these four companies.
“Are the likes of Wale in the economic team ready to lose proceeds from sales of the licence by allowing Pantami and Yusuf (Tunde) to arm-twist Buhari into signing the 50% discount or will they cancel the process and ensure the correct thing is done?
“Mafab was funded by Tinubu to buy the 5G license that he has been unable to deploy now for donkey years,” he added.
The source added that Pantami brought in Professor Adeolu Akande from the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and installed him as Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission's Board of Commissioners to ensure that the licences were granted quickly.
The source continued: “The chairman of the board that approves the license was brought in by Pantami from NITDA and he is like a Pantami puppet. He claimed to have law degree and sent to the law school last year or so. He even bought a luxurious building in Maitama where he calls his chambers and that’s where all licensee prospects go to negotiate with him on how much they will pay to get their license and that’s what exactly has happened with this licensing round.”
Meanwhile, the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) has spoken out against the planned sale of the broadcast frequency in the 600MHz spectrum band, claiming that such action would not only endanger over 80% of television viewers nationwide but would also expose Nigeria's broadcast space to unrestricted penetration by foreign media organs.
According to the source, the minister had also gone so far as to deceive the president by requesting approval for an Information technology(IT) conference scheduled for 2026, possibly in an attempt to plunder the funds and give conference contracts to cronies while avoiding intervention from the incoming administration.