The Muslim Rights Concern has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to reject voices calling for the resignation of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami.
This is according to a statement issued by the Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The statement was titled ‘Pantami: Call for resignation afterthought, belated’.
The group condemned Pantami’s critics, claiming it is a ploy to weaken the President Buhari-led administration. It also alleged that the critics want to score a cheap political point with their demand for Pantami’s resignation.
It reads, “The call for the resignation of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, over remarks made as a teenager and long before he became a minister is quite worrisome. The question we are asking is ‘Why now? Why were those radical remarks not mentioned before now?
“None of the nouveau critics who are yelling today has mentioned any official misdemeanour committed by Dr Pantami while in office as DG of NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency) or since he started serving as minister. So, the call for his resignation is therefore an afterthought. It is belated and it should be ignored by patriotic Nigerians.
“We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to ignore the rantings of Pantami’s critics. We advise Mr President to read between the lines. The idea is to rubbish the communications minister.
“But it is more than that. They want to score a cheap political point with their demand for Pantami’s resignation. It is also a ploy to weaken this administration.
“It is our contention that the brilliant initiative of NIN (National Identification Number), which is capable of exposing rogues and criminals is behind the attacks on him and calls for his resignation.
“The NIN initiative, which came from Pantami is giving unscrupulous elements sleepless nights and their desire is to stop it. They want our state of insecurity to continue. Mr President must not allow the enemies of Nigeria to have their way. Pantami is not the real target. President Buhari is the ultimate.”
