Some members of Nigerian Twitter community have dragged a journalist, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, for defending Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, after exposing the National Youth Corps Scheme exemption certificate forgery of former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun.
Following the outrage that greeted Abdulaziz’s story, Adeosun had resigned in September 2018 barely three years after her appointment by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
But the reporter took to Twitter on Thursday to defend the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, over his alleged past relationship with terrorist groups.
The hashtags #PantamiResign and Kemi Adeosun have since been trending online having over 29,000 and 12,000 retweets respectively as of the time of filing this report.
Abdulaziz, who tweeted via @Abdulfagge, urged Nigerians not to judge Pantami by his past, a comment that Nigerian Twitterati has since linked to ethnic bias.
Abdulaziz wrote, “On @DrIsaPantami: Yes, public officers deserve all the scrutiny. But while we’re at it we’ve to be thorough, fair and nuanced. Yes, we can dig the past but passing judgment would have to alongside context and current realities. A lot of people have had a severed past. We all have a past. Not everyone will escape if our past actions and speeches are used against our present positions.”
Abdulaziz has, however, come under fire for his comment which many perceive as a defence for the communications minister who is also a northerner as himself.