Leon Usigbe
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has been told to resign from President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet since he disagrees with the administration’s cash swap policy.
Keyamo had expressed his disagreement with the handling of the naira swap policy by the president, saying that he ought to have obeyed the decision of the apex court.
Speaking in an interview with Channels Television political programme on Friday, he also affirmed that the policy was not a cabinet decision, alleging that Buhari might have, therefore, been advised wrongly.
Keyamo rationalized his position by saying that as a lawyer and inner member of the Bar, he was bound to defend the Supreme Court of the land.
He stated: “This decision was not a cabinet decision. If it were a cabinet decision, am bound by the decision of the cabinet. But it was not a cabinet decision of which part of.”
While noting that he was bound by the decisions of both the cabinet and the bar, Keyamo added: “My view is that the President acted honestly without intention to slight the Supreme Court but he may have acted on wrong advice. I did not give that advice. It’s not my responsibility, I don’t know who gave that advice.”
Responding to Keyamo’s position, Phrank Shaibu, the Special Assistant on Public Communications to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, called on the
Minister since he is unhappy about the government’s decision.
In a statement on Saturday, Shaibu said if Keyamo truly believe that the President erred, he ought to resign as minister to dissociate himself from the President’s action.
Describing Keyamo as a hypocrite, Shaibu noted that Keyamo had in the past defended Buhari’s decision to ignore court orders based on national security.
Shaibu stated, “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.”
Atiku’s aide also described as jejune, Keyamo claimed that Buhari was acting based on wrong advice.
He said it was insulting for Keyamo to portray the President as a dullard who does not have a mind of his own.
“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.
Shaibu wondered why Keyamo failed 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. He dumped ASUU at the negotiation table to go and campaign for Bola Tinubu. When he was confronted on national television, he asked his 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.”
Atiku’s aide said that since Keyamo had finally received enlightenment, he also ought to resign as spokesman for the Bola Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council.
He said it would be hypocritical of Keyamo, who is a former prosecutor of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to serve as the image maker of Tinubu who is not only under investigation by the EFCC but was made to forfeit $460,000 to American authorities for alleged drug trafficking.
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?”
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