Parties knock Keyamo over minister of state comment

Forum 10 months ago

Parties knock Keyamo over minister of state comment

Some opposition parties are divided over claims by the outgoing Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, that the portfolio of a junior minister is unconstitutional.

Keyamo had also said that ministers of state do not have a voice in policy matters as their proposals must first scale through the approval of a substantive minister.

However, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria’s remark did not go down well with some political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party.

A member of the PDP’s National Executive Committee, Timothy Osadolor, described Keyamo as a hypocrite who should not be taken seriously by well-meaning Nigerians.

He said, “This hypocrisy is taken too far. The man simply wants to play to the gallery. There is just one thing Keyamo needs to do to convince the rest of us that he meant well.

“He should refund all the salaries and allowances he earned, being a product of an unconstitutional appointment as he claimed. No Nigerian should take him seriously in this.”

The National Publicity Secretary of the Social Democratic Party, Rufus Aiyenigba, said, “One thing Nigerians should do concerning the valedictory speech and recommendations of the outgoing Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo, SAN, is to separate the message from the messenger.

“It makes sense to view Keyamo as being hypocritical, particularly considering that he sat in office for eight years and was not known to have at any point, raised his voice or written a memo to Buhari against the portfolio which he held and now termed unconstitutional.”

Similarly, the spokesman for the Young Progressives Party, Egbeola Wale-Martins, faulted the patriotism of the senior lawyer, having waited till the end of the administration he has been part of for eight years, to speak up.

He said, “I share the popular opinion that Festus Keyamo is a hypocrite considering the fact that he was a beneficiary of the same unconstitutional creation.”