Digital Economy and Communications Minister Isa Pantami reportedly exclaimed being happy whenever Christians are being killed in the country.
His comments are contained in three audio recordings in the 2000s, according to Peoples Gazette, an online news medium which published the excepts on Wednesday.
He was recently reported to have ties with Boko Haram, a terrorist group that has killed thousands and displaced millions of Nigerians. The outlawed group is fighting to Islamize the country which is a secular state.
Christians have been the major victims of the armed group which has severally claimed the Quran empowers it to eliminate unbelievers who do not share their religious views.
“We are all happy whenever unbelievers are being killed,” Mr Pantami was quoted to have said in one of his extremist sermons. “But the Sharia does not allow us to kill them without a reason.”
“Our zeal (hamasa) should not take precedence over our obedience to the sacred law,” he added.
In the 2000s, the minister was said to have supported the brutal exploits of Al Qaeda and Taliban elements who were on a campaign to obliterate the West and conquer other parts of the world.
He made the remarks while responding to audience questions about his views on Osama Bin Laden during a lecture about the Taliban. Mr Pantami said of Mr Bin Laden, the late Al Qaeda leader responsible for bringing down the World Trade Centre in an attack that claimed over 3,000 lives in 2001: “I still consider him as a better Muslim than myself.”
