Keyamo and Oshiomhole
A former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has attacked the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN).
This comes after Keyamo opposed the continuation of Yobe State governor Mai Mala Buni as Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee following the Supreme Court judgement on the Ondo State governorship election, where a minority of the justices pointed out that it was illegal for Buni to hold on to the party’s chairmanship position since the constitution explicitly states that governors cannot hold on to two executives jobs at the same time.
Oshiomhole slammed the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN) who was the first to raise an issue on the Supreme Court judgement and called for Buni to resign in order to avoid providing ‘ammunition” for opponents of the party in future.
According to him, in a statement issued by his Senior Media Aide, Victor Oshioke, Keyamo was incompetent to call for Buni’s resignation, as he had helped to destroy the well constituted National Working Committee (NWC). Also he accused Keyamo of disloyalty to the structures of government as he made his advice known to the media. According to him, Keyamo, as a serving minister, ought to have given his advice to his counterpart, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) rather than going public.
Oshiomhole, who said there was no way Keyamo was working for his return as National Chairman, called on supporters of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi to leave him out of the APC crisis and Keyamo’s shenanigans.
He said: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) who is now a member of the APC and self-styled aide of Minister of Transportation, Chief Rotimi Amaechi. “In the said statement widely reported in the media, Chief Eze was quoted as saying that Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), Hon. Minister of State for Labour and Employment and others were plotting to bring back Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as National Chairman of the APC. “Ordinarily we would have ignored this nonsensical suggestion.
However, it is pertinent to set the records straight and put to rest this ridiculous falsehood being marketed by Eze Chukwuemeka Eze “It is strange that a serving Minister would share on public Social Media platforms, what he captioned as a ‘Private and Confidential’ legal opinion for Mr President who appointed him, especially considering that he was in the political kitchen when the pot of crisis he is now offering advice on was being cooked. “If Keyamo has no ulterior motives behind his sudden change of legal interpretations of relevant aspects of the APC Constitution and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the right channel would have been to sit down with his co Minister, the Attorney General of the Federation behind closed doors and put forth his arguments.
Alternatively, he could have sought a private audience with Mr. President or write a confidential memo to Mr. President and explain why his earlier opinion supporting the dissolution of the NWC and setting up of a Caretaker Committee has changed or no longer tenable. Instead he went to the market with his bogus arguments. His action is reminiscent of the indiscipline from some senior leaders of the party which Oshiomhole sought to deal with decisively as National Chairman.”
Meanwhile, amidst criticisms, the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Governor Mai Mala Buni has inaugurated the Appeal Committees for the recently-conducted Ward Congresses of the party. The Secretary of the Committee, Sen. John James AkpanUdoedehe conducted the inauguration at Buhari House, the APC National Secretariat on behalf of Governor Buni.
Speaking, AkpanUdoedehe said: “Dear Party Leaders, on behalf of the Chairman of the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Mai Mala Buni, I welcome you to the National Secretariat of our great Party and to this very important occasion. “In the past few days, the media space has been filled with commentaries on the Supreme Court judgment in Jegede v. Akeredolu, with persons who should know better, coming out with very malicious and self-serving opinions, just to play on the gullibility of the public, while forgetting that our party is made up of very intelligent, sound and intellectually proficient persons who have seen beneath their grandstanding. “The majority judgment of the Supreme Court has strengthened the position of the CECPC and our Chairman. The minority judgment serves only for academic purposes, nothing more.
“The Attorney General of the Federation is the chief law officer of the federation and has stated that we are on firm ground and advised that we proceed with the processes of the Congresses. “The Progressives Governors Forum through their extensive legal apparatchik has xrayed the generality of the issues in their meeting of 8/8/2021 and has re-affirmed their support to the CECPC and urged the CECPC to proceed with the Congresses as scheduled. “It is trite to note that, the Congresses to produce our party organs across had commenced on the 31st of July, 2021 and you will agree with me that it went substantially well.
“However, it is expected that wherever and whenever there’s a competition, of course, there is bound to be contestations. “Therefore as an organisation based on rules and procedures, avenues and channels must be provided for party members who are dissatisfied with the processes, to ventilate their grievances through an internal mechanism, hence this Wards Congresses Appeals Committee in the circumstance of this exercise.”
