Tunde Olusunle, PhD
Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo should resign immediately or risk being known as the poster boy of extreme perfidy, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Atiku-Okowa campaign, Dr. Tunde Olusunle has said.
Olusunle who gave the advice in a statement in Abuja at the weekend said what was left of Keyamo’s credibility was being effectively eroded by “his desperate moves to please his new master by launching puerile tirades at the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.”
“This same man who told the world that a current APC chieftain killed late Chief Bola Ige, is now busy dining with the same man as they both prosecute the propaganda-laced presidential campaign of their party, the All Progressives Congress, (APC). This same man who went beyond concerns about someone’s involvement with narcotics trade in the United States and told the world that the man had dubious certificates, is now parroting the same man’s new-found saintly attributes.”
The Atiku aide noted that the pecuniary benefits Keyamo is receiving from his newfound principal, had palpably impacted his allegiance to the service of fatherland as a minister.
According to him, it is sad that rather than for the Minister confront the fact of his inability to impact Nigerian lives in the ministerial office where he had been in the past three and half years, he had busy wasting executive time by launching tirades at the presidential candidate of the PDP and the party.
He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari was clairvoyant about Keyamo’s overzealousness when he reassigned him within days of naming him Minister of State for the Ministry of the Niger Delta, to his present schedule.
Olusunle further alleged that Keyamo was abusing the platform of public office to harass, terrorise and intimidate other people unnecessarily, adding that Keyamo’s “busybody meddlesomeness is a product of the almost zero schedule he operates in his ministry.”
Olusunle implored Buhari to sack Keyamo immediately, especially since he had demonstrated that he had merely been occupying space in the name of being a member of the federal executive council, (FEC).
He wondered: “Can Keyamo tell Nigerians honestly and truthfully, how much value he has added to governance and administration over the past seven and half years of his service except cruising around in a convoy of government sport utility vans and posing a public nuisance with the ever-blaring sirens of his entourage?”
According to Dr Olusunle: “At the offset of the current electioneering season, President Muhammadu Buhari expressly advised his ministers and aides to concentrate on their jobs as his administration winds down. But while other ministers largely complied by remaining at their desks, Keyamo now uses every opportunity to hunt for cheap publicity by stirring needless controversies and barking at PDP from an ill-informed position.
Keyamo, Olusunle noted, is operating in a very curious “amphibious” capacity, where he is both a public officer and a private attorney. Said Olusunle: “Keyamo swore to the oaths of office and allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He cannot be a minister of the Federal Republic and a private attorney, concurrently.”
Olusunle alluded to Keyamo’s suit requesting the disengagement of Atiku from his ticket, as most hilarious. According to him: “Keyamo’s laughable suit against Atiku was conveyed through his private law firm, “Festus Keyamo Chambers.” To this extent, he has been operating a private practice, in juxtaposition with his responsibilities as a minister, which is against public service rules. “His attention has been split between his practice therefore, which presupposes that he has been undercutting Nigerian taxpayers from whose taxes Keyamo is paid.”
Atiku’s media adviser observed that Keyamo seems to be the singular errant attorney in the Buhari governance structure, wondering why he is hopping around in his presumed role as spokesperson for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, (APC). Said he: “Keyamo is not the only attorney, nay SAN in the Buhari presidency. Babatunde Raji Fashola, Abubakar Malami are senior to Keyamo in the higher echelons of the Nigerian bar. They are focused on their work, actually writing their handover notes ahead of May 29, 2023. Lai Mohammed the official spokesperson of the Federal Government, is a seasoned attorney as well. They are all busy on their desks except Keyamo.”
Olusunle admonished Keyamo to stop clutching at the straws of public office, resign and concentrate on his present endeavours as Tinubu’s mouthpiece: “Keyamo should resign his job forthwith to enable him focus on the APC presidential project. He should request for office space at the APC headquarters from the chairman of the party, Adamu Abdullahi.”
