Why Abike Dabiri Attacked Pantami, Communications Minister

TRACKING___The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, had to go public with her feud with the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, because she had exhausted all options for an amicable resolution, Pulse has learnt.

On May 23, 2020, Dabiri-Erewa recounted how she and members of her staff were locked and thrown out of their office space by Pantami.

“In one year, we don’t have an office. The office we got, given to us by NCC (Nigeria Communications Commission)…but we were actually driven away by the Honourable Minister of communications and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami.

“Within two days, they drove us out with guns and what happened? The place was given to us by NCC….

“You know we all help each other, NCC as an agency of government said there is a place you can use to settle in, and just as we settled in, I was in Ethiopia when I got a call. I thought that it was a joke.

“I came back from Ethiopia on Thursday, this happened on Tuesday. By Friday, when I went to the office, guns, armed men had taken over the place. I thought it was a joke. But here is the thing, I’m a government employee, so is he. It’s government business,” Dabiri-Erewa said between laughs.

A dirty Twitter fight
Pantami would go on to call Dabiri-Erewa a liar. “This is a fat lie from her. The owner of the building @NgComCommission has faulted her lies on their social media platforms. The minister has never given that directives (sic) to any gunman. We need to be very objective in reporting. I have never sent any gunmen there, and I have no one,” he retorted.

Responding, Dabiri-Erewa labelled Pantami a misogynist.

“An Islamic scholar should not lie, Hon Minister ( Phd). You did that to me because I am a woman. Your disrespect for women is legendary. Left the ugly incident behind me since February. But please release all our office equipment. Public office is transient,” Dabiri-Erewa wrote on Twitter.

For most of Sunday, May 24, Dabiri-Erewa was heavily criticized on social media platform Twitter, for calling out a fellow appointee of the President Buhari administration in public.

However, the former member of the House of Representatives said she had been left with no choice after exhausting all resolution channels.