After days of silence, the Presidency has responded to comments made by the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, where he planned to eliminate Christians in the northern part of Nigeria.
In a statement posted on his Twitter account, Garba Shehu, the official spokesperson to the President, attributed calls for the minister’s resignation to a “‘cancel campaign’ instigated by those who seek [Pantami’s] removal.”
Shehu objected to an “unfortunate fashion” where the public holds leaders responsible to statements they made in the past.
According to him: “This insidious phenomenon seeks to cancel the careers of others on the basis of a thing they have said, regardless of when they said it.”
Today, there is an unfortunate fashion in public discourse that makes leaders in politics, religion, and civil society liable in the present for every statement they have ever made in the past – no matter how long ago, and even after they have later rejected them.
— Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) April 22, 2021