Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami

By Ola Ajayi, Ibadan

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has said that the continued retention of the Communications Minister, Dr Isa Pantami, in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari, is an indication that the government is not serious about its fight against insurgency and other security challenges facing the country.

Describing the stance of the Federal Government on his appointment as absurd and ludicrous, the PFN called for the outright sack of the minister without any further delay.

PFN, through its National President, Bishop Francis Wale Oke noted that Pantami’s defense by the Buhari-led administration, was needless as he (Pantami) ought to have resigned or be sacked on account of his past complimentary stance on Boko Haram and the insurgents.

Bishop Oke, in the statement issued on Monday by the PFN Media Department and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Bishop Emmah Gospel Isong, the cleric said, ” that Pantami is still in Buhari’s government, tells much about who we are and the mockery that trails us.”

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” What is the man still doing in government; why has he not resigned or why has he not been sacked by the government? More questions than answers or are we running a government of abracadabra, the more you look, the less you see?”

The PFN president who is also the Presiding Bishop of the Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Ibadan, lamented that the Buhari’s government supposed to fight against insurgency, banditry, and the like, was, after all, a facade.

“To us at the PFN, the Buhari’s government is not sincere in its alleged war against Boko Haram, killer herdsmen, and other criminalities.

Do we have to look beyond our shoulders for the sponsors of the mindless killings and bloodshed currently ravaging our country? The answer is no! The government knows them” the statement added.

The PFN insisted that things would continue to go awry for the nation unless the government and its people learn to be just and righteous, demanding that those behind various heinous crimes in the country be made to face the wrath of law no matter how highly placed.

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“Regardless of our religions, where we come from, and who we are, Nigeria belongs to us all as enshrined in our constitution. That’s sacrosanct and must strictly be adhered to and respected by all”, he stressed.

Wale Oke bemoaned that criminal activities have been festering under this administration due to the way it has been treating those behind it with kid gloves, warning that the situation would degenerate unless concrete steps were taken to salvage it.

“We want to urge President Buhari to rise above primordial sentiments and sectional attachments in dealing with the issue at hand. Frankly speaking, it’s no longer at ease for the nation and its people. We want Nigeria that we can proudly call our own. The present one we are all living in is nothing to write home about” he further decried.

The fellowship then called on the government to do all within its reach to ensure that the sponsors of criminal activities in the country were not only fished out but brought to book in accordance with the law of the land.

Vanguard News Nigeria