News
Pantami’s controversy not discussed by council, says Mohammed
By Bolaji Ogundele, Tony Akowe and Nicholas Kalu, Abuja
The weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting closed on Wednesday without discussing the controversies trailing the continued stay of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Ali Isa Pantami, in office.
Various groups had in the last few days either called for Pantami’s sack or stood by him and offered their support.
The raging controversy around Pantami was built on his alleged past positions on activities of extremist groups, Al-Qaeda and Taliban, which he was reported to have approved and commended.
However, State House Correspondents on Wednesday asked the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, if the FEC discussed the brewing crisis on Pantami’s case, especially as demands had been made by the public. Mohammed had led his colleague, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), to the State House media gallery for the post-FEC briefing.
Read Also: Why Buhari should sack Pantami, by HURIWA
Mohammed was asked whether the council discussed the matter and whether the government was comfortable with its burden on its image.
But, the minister said: “I’m not going to go into the issue of whether the government is comfortable or not. I will answer your question directly. It was not discussed at the council meeting.”
Pantami had last Saturday, while speaking during his daily Ramadan lecture at Annor Mosque in Abuja said he had renounced the views being criticised, saying he now knows better about some of the comments he made in the past.
Pantami had posited that the campaign against him is politically motivated.
But, Minority leader of the House of Representatives Ndudi Elumelu has called for the immediate dismissal of the minister.
Elumelu asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the minister over his now-recanted views supporting terror groups such as Al-Qaeda and Taliban.
Moving a point of order during Wednesday’s plenary session, Elumelu said the minister should be sacked having owned up to taking extreme positions in the past.
He said Pantami does not qualified to oversee the ministry of communications, which controls the database of Nigerians.
The lawmaker joined other Nigerians calling for the minister’s resignation over his pro-Al-Qaeda comments.
However, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Navy Rep. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi said the statement allegedly made by Pantami in support of terrorist groups has serious security consequences for the country.
Gagdi, who spoke at a media parley in Abuja, however, said it was not within the purview of the National Assembly to ask the minister to resign as the power to hire and fire rest with the President. He stressed, however, that what should be paramount at the moment is the minister’s contribution to the nation’s economy.
