DSS failed to inform NASS of Pantami’s extremist views during ministerial screening – Reps

Yusuf Gagdi, a member of the House of Representatives, claims that the Department of State Services failed to submit a report to the National Assembly about the embattled Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami’s past extremist views, during his ministerial screening in 2019.

Pantami was screened in 2019, according to the senator, who is the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Navy.

Gagdi, a member of the House of Representatives from Plateau State’s Pankshin, Kanke, and Kanam Federal Constituency, spoke on TVC’s “Your View” breakfast show on Monday, which was monitored by our correspondents.

Pantami was screened by the secret police before his appointment as minister in 2019, according to a former DSS Assistant Director, Dennis Amachree, but the minister breezed through National Assembly screening due to a number of factors, including federal character balancing.

“I don’t think it is valid that there was (anything) in that study about Pantami to the National Assembly, quote me anywhere,” Gagdi said when asked if the DSS sent Pantami’s past extremist views to the National Assembly during his screening in 2019.

“What is clear, and what I stand by, is that this burden, which some Nigerians who had the privilege of knowing Pantami’s dedication and disposition when he was 34, why didn’t they bring it to the National Assembly’s attention during the screening of ministerial nominees?

“These Nigerians that have access to this very important information, what stopped them from hitting the media with it at the time the screening exercise was being conducted? That was the time the National Assembly had the power to reject nominations of the President or to confirm nominations. If the information had gone out and the National Assembly had gone ahead to confirm Pantami, then I will accept responsibility that the National Assembly had done extremely bad,” the lawmaker added.

As of the time of filing this article, attempts to contact DSS spokesperson Peter Afunanya were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to calls or a text message.

Pantami is the only member of the Federal Executive Council from Gombe State. He is a former director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency.

He has been chastised for previous inflammatory remarks about militant organizations such as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Following initial denials, the minister later apologized for his radical remarks, claiming that he now understands better.

It would be recalled that the Presidency, led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd. ), recently exonerated the minister, claiming that he should be forgiven because the comments were made while he was much younger, but Nigerians have been unrelenting in their demand for the minister’s dismissal.

“I believe this problem of Pantami does not disqualify our democracy,” the lawmaker said on the television show.

Gagdi also stated that the President has the authority to exclude or keep Pantami from his cabinet.

“He (the President) has the option of granting Pantami a prerogative of mercy or dismissing him. That is his own influence, just as President (Donald) Trump agreed to pardon offenders in the United States before the end of his term, which was unpopular with some Democrats. The lawmaker said, “It is the same democracy that we have in Nigeria.”