#PantamiResignNow: PDP Calls Buhari to Heed to Call
The main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has said President Muhammadu Buhari should sack the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami over reports portraying his past extreme religious views.
Pantami who for the first time acknowledged his past views said he has since renounced those radical assertions.
According to the minister, the past radical ideas he was promoting was due to age, immaturity, and limited knowledge.
“Some of the comments I made some years ago that are generating controversies now were based on my understanding of religious issues at the time, and I have changed several positions taken in the past based on new evidence and maturity,” Daily Trust quoted Pantami as saying during his daily Ramadan lecture at Annor Mosque in Abuja.
“I was young when I made some of the comments; I was in university, some of the comments were made when I was a teenager. I started preaching when I was 13, many scholars and individuals did not understand some of the international events and therefore took some positions based on their understanding, some have come to change their positions later.”
However, the party noted in a statement on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, that the Department of State Service should interrogate the Minister.
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) charges the Department of State Services (DSS) to immediately invite the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, for questioning over alleged affiliations with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda,” the statement partly read.
“The party also demands that President Muhammadu Buhari should immediately sack the minister, given the sensitivity of the issue at stake.”
The People Democratic party explained that its position “is predicated on the heightening concerns in the public space and in the international arena of possible compromises by the communication minister, who has access to sensitive government documents and information, in addition to data of all individuals including high profile personalities in the public and private sectors as well as the traditional and faith-based circles.”
It also expressed worry about “allegations in the public suggesting that the minister compromised the NIN registration exercise by giving room for the registration of aliens and invaders from other countries as our citizens.”
Meanwhile, the party has called on the masses to be watchful of their environment and be very sensitive. It also called them not to hesitate in providing vital information to security agencies in the interest of our nation.
#PantamiResignNow has been trending on social media after the Peoples Gazette revealed the minister’s past views which were sympathetic to terrorist organisations.
