Phrank Shaibu, the Special Assistant on Public Communications to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has knocked the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo over his public disagreement with President Muhammadu Buhari on the new naira policy.
The spokesman in a statement on Saturday told the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC PCC) spokesman to resign if he disagrees with the monetary policy direction of his boss.
The reaction stems from the public outburst by Keyamo on Friday who said that President Buhari disobeyed the Supreme Court order by instructing that only the old N200 note should remain in circulation.
He opined that Buhari was wrongly advised on the matter and the happening can lead to anarchy in Nigeria.
Shaibu reacting, said if Keyamo truly believed that the President erred, he has no business remaining a part of the administration.
He recalled that Keyamo in time past defended Buhari’s decision to ignore court orders on the basis of national security, thereby describing him as hypocritical.
Shaibu said, “during his ministerial screening at the Senate in 2019, Keyamo pointedly told the 109 senators gathered that human rights and the rule of law can be put in abeyance for the sake of national security.
“Today that his party is on the receiving end of a policy that will stop vote buying, he suddenly remembers the rule of law and is pontificating on respect of court orders. What a joke! This is a man that abandoned his calling as a human rights activist the moment he was called to the APC’s dinner table in 2018.
“Keyamo should give up his ostentatious performance of moral propriety; his Mr. Goody two-shoes acts are irritating.”
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He further challenged Keyamo to stop being a coward and openly come out to air his views without putting the blame on others.
“Keyamo should be bold enough to condemn the President and resign just as some ministers usually resign in the United Kingdom when they don’t agree with the Prime Minister’s action.
“If he wants to criticise the President, let him do it boldly with his full chest instead of attacking some unnamed advisers of the President and portraying the President as a helpless old man who does not have a mind of his own. That is a cowardly approach,” Shaibu said.
In the same vein, the spokesman tackled Keyamo for failing to exhibit his activism when the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) spent 10 months on strike in 2020 and eight months on strike in 2022.
He said, “To be clear, Festus Keyamo has been the Minister of State for Labour and Employment since 2019. Under the watch of this retired activist and erstwhile rights crusader, ASUU has spent a combined 18 months on strike in 43 months.
“Keyamo never spoke up. In fact, he dumped ASUU at the negotiation table to go and campaign for Bola Tinubu. When he was confronted on national television, he asked parents to go and negotiate with lecturers. Suddenly, he has found his voice because of a cashless policy that will deter his new master from deploying bullion vans on election day.”
According to him, Keyamo also ought to resign as spokesman for the APC PCC because remaining in the position would summount to hypocrisy.
Shaibu stated, “Since Keyamo has suddenly rediscovered his conscience ahead of the election, he also ought to resign as the spokesman for Tinubu’s campaign. He can do this in honour of his former mentor, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who first exposed the fraudulent past of Bola Tinubu.
“Is it not the height of hypocrisy for Keyamo, a former prosecutor, to be the image maker for Tinubu who forfeited $460,000 to American authorities after being linked to heroin trafficking?”
