Pantami: Senate Must Be More Careful In Future, Says Dogara

Former Speaker Yakubu Dogara has said the Senate has to be more
careful in the future when screening presidential nominees.

Dogara was reacting to outcry over how Minister of
Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, was screened
following his alleged ties to terror groups, which he later
renounced.

The former Speaker, who spoke in Owo at the weekend when he
attended the 10th convocation ceremony of the Achievers Univeŕsity,
said there was a something missing during the screening of
Pantami.

On whether it was morally right for Pantami to remain a
Minister, Dogara explained that morality was not conterminous with
law.

He however stated the lessons from Pantami experience was for
everybody to always put the country first.

His word: “It appears something was missing. I don’t know what
was the missing link but certainly something was missing. In the
future, they (Senate) will be more careful and thorough in the
process of screening nominees.

“Sometimes morality is not conterminous with law. I’m a lawyer
but we’ve been thought to distinguish between morality and law.
What is moral may not necessarily be legal and what is legal may
not necessarily be moral.

“I think to a larger society, it’s a call on us to examine what
we do, whether we’re young or old, it’s important we always put
this country first and be careful of what we do, so that later in
life we don’t turn to regret what we’ve done as young people.”

He added: “What is going on in schools, kidnapping of students
must stop. It’s either we put security in schools or we return to
borderless learning which i believe the level of our
infrastructural development may not be able to accommodate at the
moment.

“So what we need now is to enable those schools to be safe. We
already have problems of out of school children in Nigeria. At the
last count, I think 13.1 million children were out of school. So,
kidnapping students will discourage further children from going to
school and even parents from sending their wards to schools.”

Former Speaker Yakubu Dogara has said the Senate has to be more
careful in the future when screening presidential nominees.

Dogara was reacting to outcry over how Minister of
Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, was screened
following his alleged ties to terror groups, which he later
renounced.

The former Speaker, who spoke in Owo at the weekend when he
attended the 10th convocation ceremony of the Achievers Univeŕsity,
said there was a something missing during the screening of
Pantami.

On whether it was morally right for Pantami to remain a
Minister, Dogara explained that morality was not conterminous with
law.

He however stated the lessons from Pantami experience was for
everybody to always put the country first.

His word: “It appears something was missing. I don’t know what
was the missing link but certainly something was missing. In the
future, they (Senate) will be more careful and thorough in the
process of screening nominees.

“Sometimes morality is not conterminous with law. I’m a lawyer
but we’ve been thought to distinguish between morality and law.
What is moral may not necessarily be legal and what is legal may
not necessarily be moral.

“I think to a larger society, it’s a call on us to examine what
we do, whether we’re young or old, it’s important we always put
this country first and be careful of what we do, so that later in
life we don’t turn to regret what we’ve done as young people.”

He added: “What is going on in schools, kidnapping of students
must stop. It’s either we put security in schools or we return to
borderless learning which i believe the level of our
infrastructural development may not be able to accommodate at the
moment.

“So what we need now is to enable those schools to be safe. We
already have problems of out of school children in Nigeria. At the
last count, I think 13.1 million children were out of school. So,
kidnapping students will discourage further children from going to
school and even parents from sending their wards to schools.”