Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, yesterday, said Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, should resign from office, irrespective of his recent denial of his previous support for extremist groups.
Wike, who stated this in an interview in Port Harcourt, noted that in ideal societies, report that the United States of America had placed a serving minister on its watch list over terrorism should jolt any serious government into action.
“If the Nigerian government was working, America’s declaration that a minister is on a watch list, calls for concern there is a problem.
“When a government official is placed on a watch list over terrorism, no government can fold its hands and allow the matter to lie low,” he said.
He said the minister ought to have resigned immediately the information about his extremist views in support of terrorism groups became a matter of public discourse.
The governor described Federal Government’s silence amid the raging controversy about Pantami’s sympathy for global terrorist groups as ‘worrisome’ adding: “I don’t understand why an reasonable government will retain such a person in its cabinet.”
He noted the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government had been known for its proclivity to shield persons of questionable characters, even when the country’s secret service presents overwhelming evidence against such individuals.
“But when DSS wrote a report against former Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, what happened? I have never seen a country where the secret service wrote a report about Mr. President’s nominee, questioning his character and qualification for appointment.”
Governor Wike also took a swipe on the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for not taking disciplinary action against former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, who recently claimed that he conspired with others to ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan lost the 2015 presidential election.
