Politics

N10m fine: Your law degree is useless, Atiku tells Keyamo

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, has asked the immediate past Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, to throw his law certificate into the dustbin following the defeat he suffered at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.

Keyamo had, ahead of the February 25 presidential election, written a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), and other anti-graft agencies to arrest and prosecute Atiku over allegations bordering on money laundering.

He later filed a suit at the court after the 72-hour ultimatum he gave the anti-graft agencies elapsed.

However, the court, on Monday, June 5, described Keyamo’s suit as “frivolous, vexatious and abuse of court processes,” and awarded a N10 million fine against the former minister.

Reacting to the development, Atiku, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the court judgement was a reflection of Keyamo’s incompetence as a lawyer.

Shaibu added that the judgement was a clear evidence that the former minister was only playing cheap politics.

He stated: “Keyamo’s incompetence has been confirmed by Justice Omotosho. One wonders how he was elevated to the rank of senior advocate. Despite several clarifications that the allegations levelled against Atiku were trumped up, Keyamo refused to listen to reason.

“Rather than act like a refined lawyer as expected of a senior advocate, he decided to act like a political jobber. Now, he has been disgraced before the entire world. This was a man who served under the legendary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi? What a shame!”

Atiku’s aide said Keyamo’s defeat at the court was not surprising after losing many high profile cases in court while he was an EFCC prosecutor.

Shaibu added: “When the jobless former minister was filing the frivolous case, we informed Nigerians that he would lose. The prediction was in line with his antecedent as a failed EFCC prosecutor. Today, we have been justified.

“He was the EFCC prosecutor against Governor Timipre Sylva but he lost the case. He represented the EFCC against Femi Fani-Kayode and also lost.

“Even the case he instituted against the Lagos State House of Assembly during the Tinubu certificate scandal marked ID/639M/99, Keyamo didn’t do better. In the case of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, in which Keyamo was the lead prosecutor, it also ended in another an abysmal failure.

“Keyamo made a name for himself by constantly filing frivolous suits in order to entertain the media. He needs to throw his law certificate into the dustbin so he can face his job as a social media influencer.”

The Star