TheCable

Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, the executive director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), says Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and employment, is a man of contradictions.

His statement comes after Keyamo said the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a civil society organisation (CSO) led by Rafsanjani, is sponsored by opposition parties.

TMG had asked Keyamo — who is the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council — to resign his ministerial position to enable him to carry out the campaign appointment objectively.

Reacting, Keyamo had said TMG is aligned with opposition parties but only disguised as a CSO.

Rafsanjani commented on Keyamo’s allegation in an interview with Daily Nigerian, where he denied being affiliated with any political party.

He added that Keyamo should desist from using blackmail as a tool, and reiterated that the minister should step down.

“Anybody who knows us knows that our integrity is intact. We have no political party affiliations or religious sentiments. I am somebody who can speak on the truth and Nigerians will also speak on my behalf. I am not a politician. We have spoken to people with all sorts of political affiliations,” he said.

“You are going to cheat on the work that the nation has given you as a minister. Not only that, you are cheating on time. The time you are supposed to be doing your work as a minister, you would use the same time talking on behalf of that presidential candidate.

“If Keyamo is a man of honour and integrity, he should be able to listen to people not dismiss or blackmail them the way he is blackmailing because he has so much baggage on his head. 

“Keyamo came to work under people he was challenging as corrupt. What kind of contradiction is this? So, in other words, Keyamo is a man of contradictions. If he doesn’t have principles, others have.”