A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, has joined the call for the resignation of the embattled Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, over his past apologist statement on terrorism.
Moghalu’s call followed the defense of the Minister by the Presidency, who claimed that Pantami put Nigeria first and had initiated plans and policies that would profit the Nigerian public.
But in a series of tweets on Saturday, Moghalu said Pantami should “never have scaled the vetting process and been approved for that office”.
The former Presidential aspirant added that the Presidency has shown double standards as Kemi Adeosun, a former Finance Minister, was made to resign for wrongdoing in her past.
“I have refrained so far from commenting on the #Pantami controversy. From the 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 the 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 wrongdoing in her past and another for Pantami.
“This position of presidency undermines public accountability, as well as Nigeria’s struggle against terrorism.”
