Reuben Abati, an aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, has reacted to the disagreement between the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami and the Chairman of the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
POLITICS NIGERIA reported how Mrs Dabiri-Erewa alleged that over 40 office equipment, workstations and files belonging to NIDCOM staff were still locked up at the Nigeria Communications Commission building.
According to her, this is coming four months after Mr Pantami allegedly ordered the eviction of the diaspora commission. She stated that the Minister ejected NIDCOM staff from its office in the NCC building located at Mbora District, on the Airport Road, Jabi.
This paper gathered that the eviction of the NIDCOM staff occurred on February 12, 2020, after Pantami reportedly queried the propriety of housing the commission when it was not an agency under his ministry.
However, on Sunday evening, the two public officers traded words on Twitter. While Mr Pantami denied the allegations of evicting the agency using armed men, Mrs Dabiri-Erewa called him a ‘liar’.
Meanwhile, during one of his shows on Arise TV, Mr Abati condemned the actions of the two top officials.
Mr Abati said: “Accommodation can be a challenge oftentimes in Abuja you may have which is not impossible to have an agency… and don’t forget that this NIDCOM, you know was only first established by President Buhari and Abike Dabiri is the first Director-General. It is not impossible that such a new agency may not immediately of accommodation and I guess you must-have look for space.”
“… I think it was only because the two of them now went on their Twitter account. Yes, and they were exchanging words back and forth. This shows that there’s some kind of dissonance, there is no cooperation and everybody who has been given an appointment by the president of Nigeria is exercising delegated authority,” he said.
The former Presidential aide however sued for peace between both officials.
