By Kassim Omomia, Mudiaga Affe, Andy Asemota, Cajetan Mmuta and Beatrice Gondyi
More Nigerians have expressed shock over the Presidency’s clean bill of health given to the embattled Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, accused of being a sympathiser of terrorism.

The Federal Government stance on the matter, they said, was not only outrageous but shocking.

The clearance, they added, showed that the presidency was also a subtle sympathiser of terrorism.

Pantami, for some days now, has been receiving scathing criticisms from Nigerians for reportedly canvassing support for terrorists and terrorism in the past.

Indeed, video and audio clips of some of his teaching where he expressed sympathy for extremist Islamic sects such as Al-Qaeda and Talibans have been making the rounds on the internet.

The exposure further prompted the United States intelligence service, to put him on the country’s watch list.

Pantami, who has since owned up to contents of the video clips, however blamed youthful exuberance for his past dogmatic utterances.

Despite his recant, Nigerians have remained divided on the call for his sacking as a minister.
While some Nigerians claim that Pantami past offence is not enough to cost him his current portfolio, others say that he is no longer fit to be a minister.

No reasonable government will allow Pantami in its cabinet- Wike

Ruling out the possibility of sacking Pantami, the Presidency on Thursday said the ordeal of the minister was not about his past utterances but about his current position.

Speaking through Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Presidency said “Pantami is facing a cancel campaign instigated by those who is seeking his removal.”

The Presidency added, “They do not really care what he may or may not have said 20 years ago; that is merely the instrument they are using to attempt to cancel him. But they will profit should he be stopped from making decisions that improve the lives of everyday Nigerians.”

“The minister has, rightly, apologised for what he said in the early 2000s. The views were unacceptable then and would be equally unacceptable today, were he to repeat them. But he will not repeat them- for he has publicly and permanently condemned his earlier utterances as wrong.”

However, a cross-section of Nigerians, including a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili; Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome; former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, and a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Vice Chairman (South-South), Chief Dan Orbih, have kicked against the latest position of the Federal Government on the issue.
Reacting, Fani-Kayode said Pantami was no longer fit to be a minister.

Fani-Kayode said, “Religious intolerance is primitive, barbaric, antedelluvian and archaic Those that suffer from that affliction do not deserve to be called Nigerians and they should do us a favour by moving elsewhere.

“Pantami is not fit to be a minister of the Federal Republic, because he presents a grave danger to our people and our society.

“The sooner he is dropped from President Buhari’s cabinet like a hot potato and brought to justice the better. The world is watching.”

Also, a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, said the Presidency statement publicly supporting the minister, showed the current leadership’s stand on terrorism.

Reacting via her Twitter, Ezekwesili said, “In that singular act of siding with his Minister of Communication, @NGRPresident @MBuhari actually conveyed a message on his view of terrorism.

“Nigerians now know that his views align with that of his minister.”

Similarly, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) berated the Presidency for defending the minister.

CAN made its view known via its Facebook account.

For Orbih, Pantami should first be sacked as a minister, before being exposed to a new orientation.

The PDP chieftain said, “Our party notes that if indeed, the Buhari Presidency has not found itself entangled, the least it ought to have done in the face of allegations against Pantami was to reassure Nigerians by first relieving Isa Pantami of his office and handing him over to the appropriate agency for de-radicalization.

“Nigeria that is blessed with some of the world`s most talented professionals in all spheres of life cannot be seen to be patronising people who have records of extremism and links with deadly terrorist organisations as top government officials all in the name of he has repented. Why must it be Pantami?”

Insisting that the minister should be sacked, Ozekhome said Pantami’s presence as a FEC member signalled a “clear and present danger to Nigeria’s unity, harmony and ethnic tolerance.”

Ozekhome maintained, “Pantami should honourably resign, as Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, former Finance Minister, once did. Where he fails to do this, Buhari should immediately relieve him of his ministerial position. His antecedents loudly proclaim him as a clear and present danger to Nigeria’s asphyxiatingly fragile unity, harmony and religious and ethnic tolerance. I know Buhari will not do it.”

Also, former member of the House of Representatives, Samson Osagie, and a chieftain of APC, said the government’s position on the matter portended a “dangerous precedent, even as it revealed an unwitting exposure of the fault lines of the governance in the country.”

He, therefore, urged the authorities not to sweep the allegations against the minister under the carpet.

Osagie added, “In Nigeria, anything goes. So, I wasn’t surprised personally with Federal Government’s position on the matter. No doubt, the young man is good on the job but issues that border on his personality; the views he holds, if they have implications for national security, I think ordinarily, the matter should not be swept under the carpet.

“That is why the rule of law must be the strong basis for governance as against the rule of man. But in Nigeria, the rule of law will always take the back seat.”

The Executive Director, Freedom of Information (FOI) Council, Mr. Aigbokhan, also expressed shock over the issue. He said the Presidency stance was inimical to good governance and development.

Aigbokhan said, “The government must be responsible in a way to respond to public outcry and this is one of the ways to do it; to fire and hire. Many hands can take up the job if he is fired today. But in all, he (minister) has the right to express himself and retains that right to dissociate himself from an opinion earlier expressed.

“But the Presidency must learn that persons within its confines will be hired and must also be fired and public officers must realise that when there is a public call for papers to be thrown in, they should do so.”

Similarly, a former PDP governorship aspirant in Kogi State, Chief Robert Audu, frowned on the way the Presidency has shielded the minister, saying the allegations were weighty and of international dimension.
Cautioning the Federal Government to be careful of how it defend its officials, Audu said the minister was old enough to carry his cross.

Toeing the same line, the Chairman of the Inter-Society, Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, said the response of the Presidency on the matter was not surprising.

Umeagbalasi declared, “Anybody expecting the Presidency to say otherwise is dreaming. This presidency shouldn’t have said otherwise because its body language and everything is a clear indication of the fact that the Presidency as we have it today knows a lot about the actions of terrorism and jihadism ravaging the country.

“And do not forget that not quite long ago, six Nigerians were convicted of terrorism acts in faraway United Arab Emirate (UAE) for sponsoring terrorism; for sending money to Boko Haram, and now this is the seventh person.

“What did the Nigerian government do when those six persons were sentenced? Did it seek to extradite them on account of that international judicial pronouncement and that judgment was given by the High Court of UAE and was affirmed by the Court of Appeal of UAE. And now the seventh person is being mentioned.”

Also, a civil rights movement Concerned Nigerians said on Twitter that the minister was”unfit to occupy a public office,” ending its tweet with #PantamiMustGo.

Already, #PantamiMustGo, one of the trending hashtags in Nigeria, has attracted more than 37, 000 tweets.

Meanwhile, the immediate past Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, in Bauchi State, Rev. Joshua Maina, noted that Pantami being “a sacred cow” would not be sacked by the presidency.

According to him, with Pantami’s key role in the communication ministry, the Federal Government would not relieve him of his position.

He said the minister and his ministry were key to the data base of NIMC and those of the Independent National Electoral Commission ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Maina noted that the Federal government can only remove him, when Pantami’s relationship with the US only gets to an intolerable level.

“Nigeria can appoint anybody and will only act if she discovers that because of this saga her relationship with US will receive a kind of a negative mark. It is only on this note that the power bloc will remove Pantami, anything short of that forget it.”

But canvassing a different view, a social commentator, Fredrick Nwabufo, disagreed with those calling for the minister’s sacking, saying they did not mean well for the country.

Nwabufo, in a piece entitled, “Pantami and the hypocrisy of his detractors”, noted that the minister merely fell victim of “scapegoating and profiling.”

Nwabufo said, “We live in a country that is autochthonously Christianised. Our ways are Christian. It is commonplace to profile Muslims who hold strong beliefs anywhere and everywhere, even commanding obeisance to their faith. I have never heard any Christian described as an extremist- even when some church leaders make galling and inflammatory statements.

“Those calling for Pantami’s resignation do not mean well for Nigeria. I believe he should be judged by his stewardship at the ministry of communications-not by his faith. If the social media blitzkrieg against the minister is because of his performance, that will be a different matter. But it is not. Pantami is perhaps one of the most resourceful and responsive communications ministers Nigeria has ever had.

“Again, the minister should be judged according to his work at the ministry. And he has done a good job of that. I will not join the multitude to commit murder.”

Also, the National Deputy Chairman, Council of Ulama of Nigeria, Sheik Danazumi Musa Tafawa Balewa, described the ongoing saga as “most unfortunate.”
Balewa added, ‘’He was approved, he was screened by DSS, police. Why will this talk now emerge?

“Again, I think the Nigerian government should forget about sacking him. Let us allow him, especially if he is doing good on his job. There is no need labelling him if he was a member in any group before.

“Let us forget about all what others are saying from outside. Because it is interference to Nigerian system and Nigerian security. I think the government should rely on the report by our security operatives not the report of any CIA. Why bring up the issue now? They want to destabilise the country, they want to destabilise our system.”

In a related development, the House of Representatives is set to reopen the Pantami issue this week.

Its Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, had earlier proposed it before the House last week but it was thrown away on the condition that it was not duly presented.