TheCable

Phrank Shaibu, a media aide to Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says Festus Keyamo should be punished “for dereliction of duty”.

Shaibu spoke in reaction to comments credited to Keyamo.

Keyamo is the minister of state for labour and employment, and also the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council.

He had said those aiming to truncate the swearing-in ceremony of Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, should bury the thought.

In a statement on Saturday, Shaibu said Keyamo has put his personal interest above that of the country.

“Festus Keyamo’s primary duty is to serve as minister of the federal republic of Nigeria,” he said.

“This is a man that has put his personal interest ahead of the country. He took up a job as spokesman for Tinubu’s campaign while lecturers were on strike for eight months.

“Rather than negotiate with lecturers and get innocent students back to class, he asked the parents of students to go negotiate with ASUU instead. After the strike, he remained the spokesman for Tinubu’s campaign and abandoned his duties completely.

“Today, the Nigeria Labour Congress is threatening to embark on a nationwide strike over the naira scarcity. By virtue of his job as labour minister, his primary duty is to avert industrial action.

“But rather than try to intervene in a strike that could bring the country to its knees, this minister is busy with politics and issuing frivolous statements over an imaginary plot.

“Keyamo’s job as campaign spokesman is officially over since the campaign has ended but he is currently lobbying intensely for another appointment.

“With Senator Ovie Omo-Agege’s failed governorship bid in Delta state, many from the APC in Delta have in their delusion shifted focus to the central government that will soon be delegitimized by the judiciary.”