A former presidential candidate, Kingsley Moghalu, has berated President Muhammadu Buhari for refusing to sack Nigeria’s Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, over his backing of terrorism in the past.
TrackNews Online reports that Nigerians had called on the Buhari govt to sack his Minister of Communication, Isa Pantami, for backing terrorism some years back.
But the presidency on Thursday vowed not to sack Isa Pantami while insisting that the minister has apologized for his views on Boko Haram, Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
In a post on his Twitter handle on Saturday morning, the IPOB leader called on Nigerians to take action and quit complaining.
Nnamdi Kanu slammed Nigerians for re-electing President Buhari in 2019 despite his government allegedly backing Fulani herdsmen.
The pro-Biafra activists said: “They stood with BokoHaram, you elected them. Once in office, they stood with terrorist Fulani herdsmen, yet you re-elected them.
“Now, they’re pampering Bandits while backing terrorist IsaPantami, and all you complain. It will soon get worse.
“Quit complaining. Take action.”
Meanwhile, the Presidency had backed its statement supporting the embattled Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.
Speaking during a Channels TV programme on Friday, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, compared the certificate forgery case of ex-minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, to the earlier support for terror groups expressed by Pantami.
Asked why the presidency let Adeosun go but was quick to defend Pantami, Shehu noted that the certificate forgery by Adeosun is more of a crime than the past extremist views of Pantami.
He stated that President Muhammadu Buhari’s response “would have been different” if Pantami had forged his certificate as Adeosun did.
Shehu said Pantami’s case only involved people probing his thoughts during the said lectures.
Reacting in a series of tweets, Moghala, a former depuity governor or the CBN, said the presidency exhibited double standards as former minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, was made to resign for wrongdoing in her past.
“I have refrained so far from commenting on the #Pantami controversy. From information available: anyone can a mistake, and has the right to recant from it. But when the evidence shows that a serving minister of Nigeria has expressed open support for global terrorist groups, he should never have scaled the vetting process and been approved for that office,” the tweet reads.
“The implication of the timing of Pantami’s recanting of his views now is that he has been serving as a minister while presumably still harboring those views. His disagreement with Boko Haram does not absolve him of, at the very least moral culpability for supporting Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
“For this reason, Pantami should not continue to serve as a Minister. For him to remain in his position, and for presidency to support this, is to tell Nigerians that we have two sets of standards from the very same government, one for the likes of former Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun who had to resign for a wrongdoing in her past, and another for Pantami.
“This position of presidency undermines public accountability, as well as Nigeria’s struggle against terrorism.”
