NIGERIA’S Communications Minister Isa Pantami has threatened to sue over reports that said he had been placed on a “terror watch list” for alleged ties to the jihadist group Boko Haram.

He hit out at media organisations that had reported that a “United States government agency” had linked him to the late Boko Haram leader Muhammed Yusuf.

Bashir Ahmad, spokesman for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, said that news outlets “have just endorsed a fake report” and stated that Mr Pantami had never been on an US watch list.

On Sunday the country’s Daily Independent news outlet issued a retraction, saying that after an internal investigation it had found “no direct attribution by the said United States government agency.” 

It apologised to the minister and said that the article had been removed from its website and social media.

Mr Pantami said that retraction was “noted” but added that all of those who had published the report would “meet his lawyers in court.”

“Investigative journalism requires the investigation before publishing, not after,” he said.