Minister of Humanitarian Affairs
and Disaster Management, Sadiya Umar Farouq, was on Wednesday involved in a
heated argument with her Communications and Digital Economy colleague, Isa Ali
Pantami, during the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential
Villa, Abuja.
The disagreement between the two
ministers, according to a top source, has further confirmed insinuations that
there was division among top aides of President Muhammadu Buhari.
SaharaReporters gathered that
trouble started after Pantami presented his ministry's planned activities for
approval, which included the mapping and registration of Internally Displaced
Persons across the country.
Immediately after the
Communication Minister’s submission, a furious Farouq raised her hand to speak
and express objection to the approval for such activities pending review and
approval from her ministry.
It was learnt that the President
was inclined to agree with Sadia, considering the supervisory role of Ministry
of Humanitarian Affairs on IDPs but Pantami strongly objected to the opposition
of Farouq, reminding her of the statutory power and role of the National
Identity Management Commision in capturing and registering citizens, IDP or not.
The Communication’s Minister
broke the camels back when he flaunted a letter written by his ministry to
Farouq’s office on October 15, 2020 with no response a month after.
It was at this point that the
President went ahead and approved the memo from Pantami, granting the go ahead
from NIMC to capture the IDPs.
SaharaReporters gathered that
Farouq, who had always used her closeness to President Buhari to intimidate,
manipulate and harass her fellow ministers was humbled.
A source said the minister openly
wept immediately after the meeting, accusing Pantami of disgracing her before
the President and other colleagues.
“Farouq is very afraid, she has
this fear that the capturing is capable of exposing the corruption usually
perpetrated in the name of IDPs,” the source said.
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