By Chioma Iruke
Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has posited that he is not responsible for the “political misfortune” of the former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Adams Oshiomole.
Oshiomole’s political woos began after a power tussle between Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and Oshiomhole ensued, which resulted in the latter’s removal as national chairman of APC and a caretaker committee, chaired by Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, was inaugurated to run the affairs of the party.
Recall that Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, who recently defected to the APC, was reported to have said that Keyamu and others were plotting to bring back the former Governor of Edo State as national chairman of the party.
But Oshiomole said it would be frivolous for any right-thinking person to assume that Keyamo, who actively supported his removal as national chairman of the party, would now plot to bring him back to office.
In statement titled, “Keyamo is not responsible for the political misfortune of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole”, Keyamo fired back at Oshiomole, saying his outburst was a result of the political disappointments he has suffered lately, especially in Edo State.
Parts of the statement reads, “We have been alerted about a Press Statement making the rounds credited to one Victor Oshioke issued on behalf of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and titled ‘LEAVE OSHIOMHOLE OUT OF APC LEADERSHIP DEBATE’.
“We initially had our doubts as to the authenticity of the said statement in which the respected Comrade made several unfair and unfounded allegations against Mr. Keyamo, but when we were bombarded by credible sources for our response and after taking our time to send someone to call the author to authenticate it, we had no choice but to set the records straight.
“The story of the political tussle between Gov. Godwin Obaseki and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in Edo State is so well documented that we do not need to remind Nigerians about it. Mr. Keyamo had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with it. The cases they filed against each other raged from Benin to Abuja and other parts of the country. Mr. Keyamo NEVER filed a single case in court, nor was his Chambers or juniors in Chambers used in any of the cases. The records are there.
“As to the unfounded allegation that Mr. Keyamo released his recent legal opinion on the Supreme Court decision in Jegede V. Akeredolu to the public on social media, nothing can be farther from the truth. Out of pure patriotism, Mr. Keyamo sent his PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL ADVICE to no other person but the National Chairman of the CECPC himself…”
