In what could be deemed official rascality, Nigeria’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy dabbled into a frantic pushback against calls for Minister Isa Pantami to resign following the unearthing of his past preachments in support of extremist Islamism.

Aggrieved Nigerians have been trending #PantamiResign for two days running, sitting pretty atop the Twitter trend table on Friday.

The ministry, which Mr Pantami supervises, is believed to be coordinating a counter campaign by online hordes for the embattled minister to stay in office despite mounting opposition. The ministry’s official Twitter handle was caught trending #PantamiWillStay on Saturday. 

The tweet appears to have now been deleted after the obvious slip.

Aides and supporters of Mr Pantami have been extra busy since videos and reports by Peoples Gazette surfaced connecting Mr Pantami to terrorist groups such as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

There are claims that the promoters of the pro-Pantami campaign are luring critical voices on social media with slush cash, believed to be state resources.

Mr Pantami denies links to extremist views, deflecting the call for accountability to attacks by parties who did not favour the federal government’s policy on NIN registration. 

Mr Pantami, an Islamic scholar, had previously said that he was always happy when infidels were massacred, as contained in three audio recordings of his teachings in the 2000s, when he aired extreme positions in support of the terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and Taliban.

The minister denied the statements however, maintaining that he had no problems with Christians, as a number of his serving staff were practicing Christians.