Atiku questions Keyamo’s SAN, law degrees after court throws out ‘money laundering’ suit

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has lampooned the immediate past Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, after the Federal High Court, Abuja, dismissed his case against him (Atiku).

Atiku, who spoke through Frank Shaibu, the Special Assistant on Public Communications, advised the former minister to throw his law certificate into the dustbin following the defeat he suffered at the trial court.

NewsClick Nigeria reports that Keyamo had, ahead of the 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 of corruption and malfeasance when the latter was vice president.

Anxious to substantiate his allegation, Keyamo did not wait for up to three days for the EFCC and other agencies to act on his petition but hurriedly filed a suit before the court seeking an order to mandate the agencies to act on his petition.

On Monday, Justice James Omotosho dismissed Keyamo’s suit as incompetent and awarded a N10m fine against Keyamo.

Reacting to the development, Shaibu said the latest judgment further established Keyamo’s incompetence as a lawyer.

Shaibu said the judgment was clear evidence that the former minister was only playing cheap politics.

A statement by Shaibu reads: “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!”.

Shaibu said Keyamo’s latest defeat was not surprising given the fact that he had lost many high profile cases in court while he was an EFCC prosecutor.

He 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 antecedents 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 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.”