The Presidency has defended the ongoing accusations against the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami saying that he made the statement when he was in his 20s.
Speaking through the Senior Special Assistant to the President, Garba Shehu on Thursday, it revealed that the manufactured dispute wasn’t about the Minister’s words in the past but his actions in the present.
Dr Isa Pantami has been under fire over his extremist view on how he’s happy when unbelievers are killed and inciting the people with his views that allegedly led to the killing of a student, Sunday Achi in 2004 at the Abubakar Tafewa Balewa University in Bauchi State.
In his defence, the Minister apologized for his views but more documents published by the Peoples Gazette allegedly nailed him to the killing of the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mr Patrick Yakowa.
Read Garba Shehu’s submission;
Today, there is an unfortunate fashion in public discourse that makes leaders in politics, religion, and civil society liable in the present 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 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 some 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, apologized 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 all Nigerians – and that includes ensuring they are not over-charged or under-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 and save taxpayers’ money; he has established ICT start-up centres to boost youth entrepreneurship…
…and create jobs; he has changed policy to ensure locally produced ICT content is used by ministries, starting with his own; and he has deregistered some 9.2 million SIMs – ending the ability for 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 percent, making it one of the top two playing a critical role in the emergence of the economy from the COVID 19-induced recession.
