A former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and a presidential candidate in the last general election, Kingsley Moghalu, has accused the presidency of double standards in the matter involving the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, over his past radical Islamic views and supporting the Boko Haram terrorist group.
While accusing the presidency of setting two criteria for officials serving in the same government, Moghalu said the minister should just go.
Moghalu, in several tweets yesterday said Pantami should be sacked, wondering how he passed through the Department of State Security (DSS) screening before he became a minister.
The former deputy governor of CBN contended that Pantami should never have scaled the vetting process and approved for that office.
He reiterated that the presidency exhibited double standards as Kemi Adeosun, a former minister of finance, was made to resign for a wrongdoing in her past.
“I have refrained so far from commenting on the #Pantami controversy. From information available: anyone can a mistake, and has the right to recant from it. But when the evidence shows that a serving minister of Nigeria has expressed open support for global terrorist groups, he should never have scaled the vetting process and been approved for that office.
“The implication of the timing of Pantami’s recanting of his views now is that he has been serving as a minister while presumably still harboring those views. His disagreement with Boko Haram does not absolve him of, at the very least moral culpability for supporting Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
“For this reason, Pantami should not continue to serve as a minister. For him to remain in his position, and for presidency to support this, is to tell Nigerians that we have two sets of standards from the very same government, one for the likes of former Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun, who had to resign for a wrongdoing in her past, and another for Pantami.
“This position of presidency undermines public accountability, as well as Nigeria’s struggle against Terrorism. He should never have scaled the vetting process and being approved for that office. The implication of the timing of Pantami’s recanting of his views now is that he has been serving as a minister while presumably still harboring those views.
“Two sets of standards from the very same government: one for the likes of former Finance Minister,Kemi Adeosun, who had to resign for a wrongdoing in her past, and another for Pantami. This position of @NGRPresident undermines public accountability, as well as Nigeria’s struggle,” he stated.
