Shaibu noted that Tinubu had in the last couple of days hurled insults at Buhari over the exchange rate and the naira redesign policy of the CBN.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has alleged that his opponent, Bola Tinubu, has encouraged his aides to attack the Buhari administration due to the scarcity of the naira.
In a statement on Thursday by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu; the former Vice President noted that a Spokesman for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, had already gone on social media to declare CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, as enemies because they had refused to accede to Tinubu’s demands.
Shaibu said, “In furtherance of his desperation to buy votes on the day of election, Tinubu has encouraged his aides to attack President Muhammadu Buhari and key members of his government.
“They started by constantly attacking Godwin Emefiele to organising a smear campaign against Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who had refused to attend any of their insipid rallies. They called him an ice cream man.
“They also went on television to accuse President Buhari’s Secretary, Tunde Sabiu, of controlling the President, inferring that the President is a toddler who needs to be held by the hand. This is indeed laughable.”
Shaibu said it was tragic that the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, continues to defend Tinubu, despite his attacks against the government and policies of President Buhari.
He wondered how Keyamo would continue to support Tinubu who was demarketing the Federal Government.
Shaibu stated, “Festus Keyamo is the Minister of State for Labour and Employment. Even his senior Minister, Chris Ngige, has distanced himself from Tinubu’s campaign and said he will not support anyone. This is honourable given the fact that Tinubu is a failed project.
“But Keyamo continues as Spokesman for the campaign despite the fact that the likes of Tinubu and Bayo Onanuga continue to attack President Buhari. If Onanuga says Malami is a public enemy, how does Keyamo sit with Malami during Federal Executive Council meetings?
“If Tinubu says Buhari’s government is a failure, doesn’t that also mean that Keyamo is part of the failed government?”
Shaibu noted that Tinubu had in the last couple of days hurled insults at Buhari over the exchange rate and the naira redesign policy of the CBN.
Tinubu had said, “Today, they moved the exchange rate from N200 to N800. If they had repaired it, if they had arrested this, we wouldn’t be where we are today, we will be greater. They don’t know the way, they don’t know how to think, they don’t know how to do it.”
Earlier in Abeokuta, Tinubu had accused the President of incompetence especially with regard to the scarcity of the new naira notes and the petrol scarcity.
Shaibu said, “Festus Keyamo is indeed a man without principles, an unscrupulous man. Tinubu has continued to attack Buhari’s administration which Keyamo is a part of. Rather than resign out of honour, he continues to sit tight.
“Recall that Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State had said President Buhari’s government was being controlled by a cabal. The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, appropriately rubbished the report. However, Keyamo, a retired activist has not been brave enough to defend his principal.
“He has all but abandoned his official duties to pursue the failed campaign of a bullion van politician, the same man whom Keyamo had described as a charlatan during his days as an activist.”
In a series of tweets last Friday, Keyamo stated, “Same characters who have always vilified PMB are the same characters now eulogising him for doing ‘what is right’ even if it is inimical to the chances of his party. They’re pretentiously stooping low before him to conquer.”
Shaibu noted that by Keyamo’s latest outburst, it appears he is more concerned about the victory of the APC than to President Buhari.
Atiku’s spokesman also quoted the Holy Bible in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”
Then he said, “It is clear that Keyamo despises President Buhari because of the currency redesign which seeks to curb vote buying on the day of the election. Keyamo has allowed his job as the spokesman for the APC campaign council to conflict with his job as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria despite repeated warnings by President Buhari that no minister must put the campaign ahead of the overall interest of the country.
“Keyamo has continued to abuse his office as minister to pressure the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other agencies to invite and arrest Atiku ahead of the election but this has also failed.
“Interestingly, Keyamo, who prides himself as a former EFCC prosecutor, is at the centre of a probe by the National Assembly as part of a wider investigation by the Senate Public Account Committee of the N52 billion Special Public Works programme coordinated by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in 2020.
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“Keyamo, who loves to brag about his time as an EFCC prosecutor, always fails to reveal that the EFCC lost most of its high profile cases in court because of him. He was the one in charge of the corruption case of Tompolo but now he is chasing Tompolo all over the place for assistance. He was the prosecutor against Governor Timipre Sylva but they now sit together at FEC.
“Even the case he instituted against the Lagos State House of Assembly during the Tinubu certificate scandal marked ID/639M/99 was also lost by Keyamo. Keyamo, who believed Tinubu was a fraudster, is now his spokesman. What a shame!
“Even the case of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, in which Keyamo was the lead prosecutor, ended in another failure. He was counsel to the leader of the Niger-Delta Peoples’ Volunteer Force, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari in his trial for treasonable felony and lost. Keyamo was also a counsel in the murder of Bola Ige where he claimed one Fryo confessed to him that Senator Iyiola Omisore killed the former attorney-general.
“Interestingly, Keyamo is now in the same campaign council with Omisore whom he accused of murder. Also, Keyamo was the one prosecuting former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, on behalf of the EFCC in the case before Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia at the Federal High Court, Lagos. Today, they sit together in the same campaign council.”