Buhari:: I Stand By Patanmi; Blames Opposition; Investigates Alleged Media Inducement |The Source

By Charles Igbo

Those Nigerians asking President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the Minister  for Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, are wasting  their time. They have another thinking to do. Nor would  Minister Pantami honorably resign on his own.

President Buhari has told them that his Minister is going nowhere. And that he stands by him,  and is watching his back.

The President had come under immense pressure to fire this Minister whose past record, recently unearthed and published, show he had sympathy for terrorists, especially, Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Evidences, also, abound of his abhorrence of Christians. He had strong radical views, and and delivered inciting preaching in Mosques aimed against Christians.

In his defence, Pantami  said he no longer believes in his earlier beliefs, and had become a changed man. But outraged Nigerians had said leaving Pantami as a Cabinet member, especially, in charge of  a sensitive Ministry spelt doom. They are not only asking for his sack, they are asking that he be investigated by Security agents.

But none of those would happen. Pantami is standing strong like the Rock of Gibraltar. The Presidency is blaming the opposition, saying Pantami’s ordeal stems from his good works in the past two years. He is working for the masses, the Presidency said, and that the opposition was not happy with it.

In a statement signed by the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Monday, April 22, the Presidency said the Minister was being persecuted for nothing. While the statement said the Presidency was not in support of Pantami earlier stand, it agreed with him that he was young and immature at the time he held such extreme views.

It said the pressure to sack the Minister is coming from those who want to distract Minister Pantami  from the good job he is doing, and submitted that the Federal Government would investigate the allegation that some  Editors turned down the money offered to them to publish materials to rubbish the Minister.

The statement reads: “Today, there is an unfortunate fashion in public  discourse that makes leaders in politics, religion and civil society liable for every statement they have ever made in the past – no matter how long ago, and even after they have later rejected them.

“This insidious phenomenon seeks to cancel the careers of others on the basis of a thing they have said, regardless of when they said it.

“The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, is currently, subject to a “cancel campaign” instigated by those who seek his removal. 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 improves  the lives of everyday Nigerians.

“The Minister has rightly apologised for what he said in the early 2000s. The views were absolutely 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.

“In the 2000s, the Minister was a man in his twenties, next year, he will be 50. Time has passed, and people and their opinions –  often rightly- change.

“But all discerning Nigerians  know this manufactured dispute is nothing to do with the Minister’s prior words,  but solely concern his actions in the present.

“This administration is committed to improving the lives of Nigerians – and that includes ensuring that they are not over-charged or over-protected for those services on which modern life depends.

“The Minister has been leading the charge against illegal data deductions and pricing; he has revolutionized the Government’s virtual public engagement to respond to COVID-19 snd save tax-payers money; he has established ICT Start-up Centres to boost youth entrepreneurship and create jobs; he has changed policy to ensure locally ICT content  is used by Ministries starting with his own; and he has deregistered some 9.2million SIMS – ending the ability of criminals and terrorists to flagrantly use mobile networks undetected. In two short years, Minister Pantami has driven the contribution of the ICT sector to the GDP to more than 18 per cent, making it one of the top two playing a critical role in the emergence of the economy from the COVID-19- induced recession.

“In putting people first, the Minister and this administration have made enemies. There are those in the opposition who see success and want it halted by all means. And there is now well-reported information that Alleges newspaper editors rebuffed an attempt to financially induce them to run a smear campaign against the Minister by some ICT companies, many of which do indeed stand to lose financially through lower prices and greater consumer protections. The Government is now investigating the veracity behind these claims of attempted indictment and – should they be found to hold credence – police and judicial action must be expected.

“The Administration stands behind Minister Pantami and all Nigerian citizens to ensure they receive fair treatment, fair prices, and fair protection in ICT services.”

Many Nigerians, including Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, had foreseen that the Federal Government would protect the Minister instead of giving him a shove over his extreme religious views, and earlier connections with terrorist groups.