Pantami Used Armed Officers To
Evict Our Staff, Abike Dabiri
Alleges


The chairman, Nigerians in the Diaspora
Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has
alleged that the Minister of Communications and
Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami used armed
security men to eject NIDCOM from the offices
which they occupied in the NCC building located
at Mbora District, on the Airport Road, Jabi,
Abuja.
She said over 40 office equipment, workstations
and files belonging to NIDCOM staff were still
locked up at the Nigeria Communications
Commission building, four months after the
Minister of Communications and Digital
Economy, Mr Isa Pantami allegedly ordered
NIDCOM to be evicted.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Communication
Commission (NCC) spokesman, Dr Henry
Nkemadu, said the minister could not have
ordered the eviction of the commission’s staff.
He said the NCC had not withdrawn the offer for
the commission to use a space in its complex.
“The fifth floor allocated to NIDCOM had to be
used to accommodate other departments from
the NCC headquarters to ease congestion.
“The NCC has not withdrawn the offer but had
hiccups arising from the preparation for the visit
of the President, Major General Muhammadu
Buhari (rtd) to inaugurate the building other
projects relating to the mandate of government.”
Reacting, NIDCOM in a statement, by its
spokesman, Abdulrahman Balogun, dismissed
the NCC claims, noting that over 40 office
equipment belonging to its staff were carted
away from the NCC building shortly after it was
evicted.
According to NIDCOM, the missing items, it said,
include two units of single face data ports; 24
port patch panel; Mikrotik RB 750G router;
Mikrotik cloud router switch; two Headsets with
microphones; two Digital PABX; 4u Server racks;
Patch cables; HP desk jet 1012 all in one printer,
files and documents.
Dabiri-Erewa said that she had complained
officially about the ill-treatment by the minister
She said that the NCC duly offered its annexe
office at one of the meetings held with the
Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Professor Umar
Danbatta at Maitama, Abuja, in June 2019.
She explained that subsequently, directives were
said to have been given to the Director of Human
Resources, Mrs Maryam Bayi who liaised with
NIDCOM staff and delivered the building to the
commission.
Dabiri-Erewa said, “the office we got, given to us
by NCC, we were actually driven away by the
Honourable Minister of Communications and
Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami. Within two
days, he drove us with guns.
“The place was given to us by NCC, we all help
each other. The NCC said there is a place we can
settle in and just as we settled in; I was in
Ethiopia when I got a call. I came back from
Ethiopia on a Thursday, this happened on
Tuesday, by Friday, when I went to the office,
there were guns, armed men had taken over the
place, I thought it was a joke.
“I am a government employee, so is he
(Pantami). It’s government business. Do I go on
the street and start fighting him? So, I said I
would take the higher ground. I decided that I’m
not going to raise any dust about it. I have
written to the appropriate authorities, I have
complained officially”, she said.
She said the NIDCOM was facing office
accommodation challenge. She noted that the
fifth-floor offices in the NCC building from where
the commission was evicted are still vacant.
“That place is still there, a whole floor is still
vacant. As I speak with you, all our items are
locked up (in the building). I don’t have
computers, I don’t have printers, everything has
been locked up.
“After COVID-19, we are hoping we can get a
space and these things that were locked up were
personal laptops and printers of our very
dedicated staff,” she added.