Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has questioned the proposed panel set up by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to probe the circumstances leading to the appointment of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Pantami as a Professor of Cyber Security, by the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO.)
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode who recently decamped to the ruling party of the All Progressives Congress (APC), while reacting to the move by ASUU on Isa Pantami, asked what has the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy done to warrant such hatred.
He said:
“What has Isa Pantami done to ASUU? When will the hatred stop? Is it because he is Muslim?” he asked.
The controversial former Minister of Aviation, taking to his social media page on Tuesday 16th November 2021, stated that Nigerians must be guided by love and not hate, while saying that Isa Pantami is more than qualified to be a Professor.
“I know Pantami well and he is eminently qualified to be a Professor. Let us be guided by love and not hate. Lies, disinformation, prejudice, ignorance and religious bigotry has blinded many in our country,” he added.
The Case Between ASUU And Isa Pantami?
ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke had on Monday 15th November 2021, while briefing journalists in Abuja, noted that the controversial appointment of Pantami by FUTO followed advertisements in some national dailies on September 2, 2020, which made Pantami purportedly apply for the position and thereafter given the position.
Expressing displeasure over the issues, the ASUU President noted that the Minister was only promoted to the rank of Lecturer 1 in 2013 before he left the country.
According to him, the Minister allegedly skipped three positions – Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Professor, with each having at least three years experience requirements.
Professor Osodeke said that information at his disposal revealed that the Minister resigned from the Abubakar Tafewa Balewa University, Bauchi in 2015 and moved to a university in Saudi Arabia as an Assistant Professor, which is an equivalent of an Assistant Lecturer in Nigeria.
According to Osodeke, Pantami left the academic to become the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in 2016.
“There are serious doubt and unanswered questions bordering on the qualification of Dr. Isa Pantami for the position,” he said.
“The attention of ASUU has been drawn to the controversy generated by the recent appointment of Dr. Isa Pantami, the current Minister of Communications and Digital Economy as a Professor of Cyber Security by the Federal University of Technology Owerri,” he said.
“From 2013 to 2016 when he ceased to be an academic is just three years which means if Futo said he is right, it means the man moved from becoming Lecturer 1 to becoming a Professor within three years which is against all rules.
“In view of the foregoing and having rejected FUTO Committee’s report, NEC set up an independent committee to go to FUTO to investigate fully and get all the data so that we can put it to the public, the role of FUTO on how this person who spent three years during Lecturer 1 and Professor, how did he become a professor.”
The ASUU President assured Nigerians that the outcome of the probe would be made public.