 Even after the revocation of his past comments, calls for the resignation of the Minister of Communication, Issa Pantami, saw us. And the war the Ebo Congress rejects the newly formed security network, Ibube Agu. Plus politics starts now, I am Justin Akadouni. Now calls for the sake and resignation of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Issa Pantami, has continued to grow. The requests have continued despite the fact that the Minister has denounced what he said about Al Qaeda and the Taliban. He said he now knows better about some of the comments he made in the past and the campaign for his removal is politically motivated. Now joining us to discuss this is Ademullah Adewale, public affairs analyst and Wala Oba, also a political analyst, many things from gentlemen. Now the Minister has come out to say that he said those things about his links to the Al Qaeda and of course the Taliban because he was much younger, he was in his teens according to him. But his denouncement and his revocation, does it make him justified? I'm starting with you Mr Adewale, can you attend to that question I just asked? Thank you very much. I am once again Adewale, Ademola Justice. He has come up to say or to accept that he won't say those things, but it's just an issue for everyone to remain cautious. You will see as a Shaiq, or while he was much younger, the emotions of the circumstances of those days led him into saying or taking the positions he took them. But he will see now, as an occupant of public affairs, as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, those old days and the actions of those days are haunting him. And that's why we do tell everybody in life there's always a chance, and for every chance there is a choice, and for every choice you make there is a consequence. One of the consequences of those choices he made in those days is what you are seeing all around him, but that's notwithstanding. We may need to view him furthermore beyond that part of his. But you know, as a Nigerian, or as Nigerians rather, going by what we are facing, it may be a bit very difficult for everybody to just take off his or her eyes from the past that he had once created. Alright Mr Adewale, judging by all that you have said, he has to do much more than he has been doing. He's much more than he has been doing. The fact that he was much younger, does he make it justifiable? Should Nigerians just be so completely forgiven at judging by the fact that we are being plagued by issues of terrorism, banditry, insurgency, and most of them have some sort of religious coloration? There's room for maturity, there's room for growth, and there's room for improvement in whatever status anyone attains in life. I, for a person, am just assuming and believing that once he was that youthful and such exuberance could be used to die his age, but now occupying a much more position of responsibility and going by the ills of the nation as we are, we might give him a chance to become a new person. And really from most of his utterance, because looking away from this, if you see some other things that a young man has been handling, we may be forced to believe he is matured now and we may not allow the entirety of that path to hunt him down. Mr. Demola, I don't know if you actually listen to that particular comment when he talked about in-fielders having to die. Even if you are young, holding such opposition, what does it make of your personality? That was the personality of old, like I'm saying. Do you understand me? I am not separating him from that he did or that he said then, but going by the opportunity of changing, you know, once someone might be a child, you see, if you are a Christian, I suppose Paul in the Bible does say, he once said, once I was a child, but now I am old. So for Issa Pantami, then it might be what he said he was or what was said about him or what he said, but now believing or giving him the opportunity of having changed from his past or being a much older and much more responsible Nigerian and by the position he is holding, I may want to believe he might be a changed person. But let's look at Nigeria specifically now. Like I said before, we have been plagued by lots of challenges, specifically in security. I'm Banditri Boko Haram and most of them are actually from the northeastern part of the country. When the federal government has a minister who in his past said things about killing people who do not believe in Islam, doesn't it show to some extent that the federal government is actually not leaving up to his expectations wanting to fight insurgency and at the same time having a minister who actually supports terrorism even if it was in his past? Am I still on? Yes, you all go ahead. Yeah, like you have just said, I think this is one big foul on the security mechanism and systems of the country because while Issa Pantami was nominated and forwarded for ratification, this is what the DSS or the State Security Service will have dogged into and they had all the necessary tools to have run back into his past. And you will see we have a national assembly made up of several men who also should have had one or two inkling about this towards which his nomination should have been bettered a bit much more. So this is a security lapse on the entirety of the country because look at the years, the issue of the just crisis and the Boko Haram insurgents and then the discussions he had with the Ankeida leader. These issues are not as old as 20 years of now. So our security system, the security machinery should be current enough to hook whoever back to the very recent past. You know, while it was being vetted for confirmation, this ought to have taken very serious post. So you will agree that it is a slight on a lesson and learning points for the screening machinery for anyone that brought up for nomination for the nation's political offices. So I could infer if I said that adequate scrutiny is not really being done for people who are nominated and given appointments maybe to the position of a minister or other appointments in Nigeria. I can't get it clearly. I said I could be right if I infer to the fact that enough or adequate scrutiny is not being done when it comes to appointments in Nigeria. Who do we hold accountable? Is it the DSS now or the National Assembly? Yeah, it is the joint responsibility. You know, parenting, the DSS has much to do. Then, for political arrangements, the National Assembly. So the DSS should have done a more thorough job and move such on towards the National Assembly. Like you will see, you know, on anti-epilements, the MDS of the country have been audited by the Auditorial of the Federation. Whose report is forwarded to the National Assembly. So the National Assembly works on that. So in the same vein, in the same regard, security issues prior to confirmation of nominations should be vetted and worked on thoroughly by the DSS and for the result of which to be forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration ahead of such nomination. All right. Joining us also in this conversation is Mr. Abola Oba. Thank you so much for joining us in this conversation. I really want to get your main position on this particular matter, judging by all the calls across both from Nigerians. Do you really think that we should still retain Mr. Issa Panthemi as the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy? I think we're having a bit of communication issues with Mr. Abola Oba. Let's continue with Mr. Adimola right now. So, so far, right now, legally speaking, what should be done, judging by all that we have had so far concerning the past? Of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, what's the legal framework that should be taken on this particular matter? Yeah, like the question you asked, and you see going by my earlier narrations, now there are two issues here. The part of the minister and now the competence and performance records on his job rules. Now, going by what he has done, because by my training as an internal controller, the past is attitudinal, but the present is performance. So if, as a minister in that portfolio, if relatively he has been performing, not minding the past that he has, do you understand? Because his position with the al-Qaeda and its sympathy he had for al-Qaeda or Boko Haram and the insurgency stuff might not have considerably tortured his performance ability. So if his performance is doing well as a minister, I think the nation should parry with him and cause him to continue to act in that role. But if Paraventure, that same past of his, has had so much influence negatively, of course, on his performance and on his role as a federal minister of the Republic of Nigeria, then his tax should be certified. Okay, we are not psychologists or psychiatrists right now, but at what point in time can we begin to analyze and justify that one has completely and truly changed? Yeah, his act, because maybe now, when last he made such comment, and with effect from his period of appointment, you know, appointment might convert much responsibility on someone that may want to make such a person diverse himself from his past. If with effect from when he was embodied as a federal minister, if he has to change personality, change perception and change attitude towards nationality much more than that ethnic and religiousity, so we might cause him to continue. But if Paraventure, his job roles had suffered one or two things from his sentiment and his attachment to the Boko Haramuala, then it should be off. So this not, you know though, psychologically, there's so much, there are so much connections here. But like I said, by virtue of my job role as an internal controller, a link of performance with his present role would have much more weight than hooking him to his past. Alright, thank you so much that we have been speaking to political analysts at the Malay Adewali. Thanks for your input and your thought on this particular discourse. We do appreciate it. Thank you very much. We're still looking at a cause for resignation of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantani, and joining us is Wala Oba, a political analyst. Many thanks for hanging on. Now one of the main reasons why this administration is a judge to have failed is because of the growing insecurity specifically in the Northeast. So right now where we have a minister who has some sort of, well I say, interest or, well, you know, interest with Boko Haram and terrorism. Don't you think it's actually negating the fight against terrorism in Nigeria? But what you should be doing is what is done the most respectable and most responsible policies, a matter of the deed, a self-respecting personage, and indeed a self-respecting government would quickly find a way to watch the guy out of the administration so that he does not seek a biasing. Yeah, I agree with you so far, but it's not like he failed. I mean, any longer from the moment that these parts have come out. Alright, looking at all of the issues that have come out since calls for his resignation, is that of screening and scrutiny of, you know, ministerial appointees and of course people who passed through the National Assembly. What does it really tell on the Department of State Services how come this could have just passed them, you know, without being noticed? Before you get to the National Assembly, what happens to the DSSS or DSSS is to charity check on anybody nominated for public appointments. You know, what, what, why is this DSSS comes to mind? Why are they doing this? You must remember that it's the ground that is administration. It's the administration that two agencies of the presidency were given conflicting reports about one appointee of the president. One agency wrote that it was fit for the position, another wrote that it was not fit for the position. So something is in line with and fundamentally wrong, not only with the legislative arm of government and I'm not holding belief for the Senate there, somebody else who has done is wrong, but we have one or nine senators. But having said that, there is a role for the DSS, constitutionally recognized as the MSSS, this is a representative. There's a role for them in making sure that anybody nominated for public appointments is on a background. What did they do? All right, Mr. Obana, so where does this place us as Nigerians and the country in Nigeria, judging by the fact that he is a custodian of sensitive information in Nigeria? He is the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy. Don't you think he actually places Nigeria and of course Nigerians at some sort of risks? That's one of the reasons that the anxiety of people are generally spiked. And apart from the fact that that may not be the issue, it is just dignifying for the government to find a way of using him out so that the government can give good attention to things that we add value to society. We don't make the resources, time, arguments and all the things that we spend on this issue. If the guy can't do it himself, somebody should just show him be done. When you say somebody should say let it be done, you know, right now the voice of the people that's, you know, distinctive voices everywhere on social media, Pantamine should stay, Pantamine should resign, you know. If he is not going to resign by himself legally, what should the citizens be doing right now? I don't know what he's doing. I don't know his mind. I just know every minute that the state's longer in that position, it defines the government as a government that is not in control or an administration that is not in control of its personnel. And it inevitably takes the government away from what we should focus on. That is, suddenly the people were, that is just a distraction. And if nobody does this, this administration, to be honest with you, is restricted to their legacy. Okay, going forward, how do you really think Nigeria can truly win the war against terrorism and, of course, insurgency, judging by the fact that the federal government has not really named and shamed the people who are sympathetic, you know, to insurgency in Nigeria? To be honest with you, I really don't want to talk about this. The government would ultimately define how the people will perceive the government and perceive ultimately its legacy. You know what? We have seen a number of ourselves, we have seen a number of ourselves. All you know that is government. If this is going to be an administration, some of those are absurdities. Oh, Nigerians are prepared for you. And you know what? It's a tenured monarchy. I usually tell people that the presidential system of government is essentially the kind of world we have in Nigeria, where the president is almost omnipotent, is a tenured monarchy. One day, May 29, 2023, another president must come in. Alright, thank you so much, Mr. Agbola Oba, for your thoughts. We do appreciate your comments so far on the show. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Alright, thank you for staying with us. We'll take a short break and when we return, the newly created Ibo de Agu suffers yet another rejection from an Ibo sociopolitical group. We'll be right back. Stay with us.