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Abike Dabiri, Communications Minister Fight Dirty on Twitter over Office Space
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, on Sunday traded words on Twitter over the forced eviction of NIDCOM staff from their office at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
While Dabiri-Erewa, in a series of tweets, accused Pantami of being disrespectful to women, the minister, who tweeted back, called the NIDCOM boss a liar.
The scuffle between the duo started after the former House of Reps member, in a video posted on NIDCOM Twitter page, accused Pantami of ordering armed men to chase away her workers from their office.
She noted that the office was given to them by the Nigerian Communications Commission, lamenting that the working tools of the staff had been locked up.
She said in the video, “In one year, we don’t even have an office. The office we got, given to us by the NCC, we were actually driven away by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami. Within two days he drove us out with guns and what happened? The place was given to us by the 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. Do I go on the street and start fighting. No. So, I said I would take the moral higher ground.
“I have complained officially, but we let it be. He wants the place, let him take it. And that place is still there, a whole floor is still vacant. As I speak with you all our items are locked up. I don’t have a computer; I don’t have printers, everything has been locked up.”
However, the minister, in a tweet to the video, called 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 directive to any gunman. We need to be very objective in reporting. I have never sent any gunmen there, and I have no one,” he wrote.
The NIDCOM boss, while quoting Pantami’s tweet, said he chased the workers away because he did not respect women.
“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,” she wrote.
She then posted a video of the stranded NIDCOM workers who were being addressed to stay calm.
“To refresh you sir, despite your denial; the secretary of the commission seeking calm after staff resumed for work and denied access to the 5th floor office of NIDCOM based on your instruction. Turned back by armed men! Haba!!!!” Dabiri-Erewa added.
Pantami retweeted supports from some of his followers, who urged him to take legal action against Dabiri-Erewa for defamation of character.
He also shared a statement from the NCC, which had also absolved him of blame in the matter.
The agency’s Director of Public Affairs, Henry Nkemadu, said NIDCOM was not forced out of the complex.
“The NCC has not withdrawn the offer, but had hiccups arising from the preparation for the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the Communications and Digital Economy Complex and launch of other projects relating to the mandate of government.
“Incidentally, after the offer of the office spaces to the NDC (NIDCOM), the Director General, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, had not visited the complex to take possession of any of the offices and also the commission had not started using any of these spaces as offices.
“As is usual in ensuring security and accountability before, during and after presidential visits, the building had to be cleared to allow for only known and identifiable persons to have access within the complex.
“Therefore, the Honourable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, could not have sent armed men to drive the staff of the Diaspora Commission out of the Communications and Digital Economy Complex,” the statement said.
The Punch
Commissioner of Police, CP Olajide Rufus Ibitoye, acting on the orders of the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, through the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in-charge of Force Intelligence Department (FID) Abuja, has extended an invitation to the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, for an “investigative meeting with regards to an incident that occurred during the Sallah celebration within your domain”.
The said incident is in connection with the violence that broke out during the recent Eid-el-Fitr procession in Kano, which resulted in the death of a local vigilante member.
The incident happened as the Emir’s entourage moved from the Eid prayer ground to the palace in a traditional procession. The clash, which marred the otherwise peaceful celebration, led to the tragic loss of life of a vigilante member, Surajo Rabiu, and left one other injured.
The invitation was conveyed in an official letter dated April 4, 2025, and signed by Commissioner of Police, CP Olajide Rufus Ibitoye, on behalf of the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in-charge of Force Intelligence Department (FID) Abuja.
The letter reads: “I have the directives of the Inspector General of Police, through the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force Intelligence Department (FID), to invite you for an investigative meeting with regards to an incident that occurred during the Sallah celebration within your domain.”
The Emir has been requested to appear before the Force Intelligence Department in Abuja, opposite the Police Headquarters, Area 11, by 10:00am on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.
This development comes amid heightened tensions in Kano State following the earlier decision by the State Police Command to ban the annual Durbar festival due to security concerns. The ban, announced days before the Eid-el-Fitr celebration, was intended to prevent any possible breakdown of law and order during the festive period.
However, despite the suspension of the Durbar, a motorcade procession of Emir Sanusi II still took place on the third day of the Eid-el-Fitr celebrations.
The Kano State Police Commissioner, CP Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, had also inaugurated an eight-member Special Investigation Panel (SIP) to investigate the violence.
As at the time of this report, there has been no official response from the Emir Sanusi II’s palace regarding the Police invitation.
Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the political adviser to President Bola Tinubu, has resigned his appointment.
Reports say the former spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) tendered his resignation about two weeks ago.
Further reports quoting presidency sources did not, however, provide details of the reasons for his decision, but only stated that it was on personal grounds.
Baba-Ahmed was appointed in September 2023 as Special Adviser on Political Matters in the Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Over the past 17 months, he had represented the presidency at several public fora, including a recent national conference themed: “Strengthening Nigeria’s Democracy: Pathway to Good Governance and Political Integrity”, which held from January 28 and 29, 2025 in Abuja.
The Supreme Court has set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja recognising Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP).
In a unanimous judgment, a five-member panel of the apex court held that the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to have pronounced Abure National Chairman of the Labour Party, after finding out earlier that the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.
The apex court held that the issue of leadership was an internal affair of a party, over which courts lacks jurisdiction.
The court further allowed the appeal filed by Senator Nenadi Usman and one other, and held that it is meritorious.
It also proceeded to dismiss the cross-appeal filed by the Abure group of the Labour Party for being unmeritorious.
In January, the Court of Appeal in Abuja reiterated that Abure remained the chairman of the LP.
A three-member panel of the appellate court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, held that its judgment of November 13, 2024, which recognises Abure as national chairman, subsists and has not been set aside by any court.
Justice Barka made the declaration while delivering judgment in two separate appeals filed by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman and the caretaker committee and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The appellate court in the two separate appeals held that it did not delve into the issue of the leadership of the Labour Party because such issues are not justiciable.
It said that anything done outside jurisdiction amounts to a nullity. Hence, the judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on October 8, 2024, by Justice Emeka Nwite is of no effect because it was delivered without jurisdiction.
