How could a Minister appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari come on open air to disagree with his policies, without resigning if not a function of total confusion and anarchy at the seat of power?
This was the reading the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), gave to the appearance of Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, on Channels Television on Friday, where he all but condemned the alleged disobedience of the Supreme Court order of the President, regarding the currency swap policy of the Federla Government.
A guest on The 2003 Verdict, a special programme on Channels Television, Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told his host that the President, who appointed him to office, might have taken his the wrong step due to bad advice, adding that the right thing to do was to obey the apex court in totality.
The Minister, also the spokesman of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), said: “Let me tell you, first of all, my ultimate loyalty lies with my profession. As a member of the Inner Bar, I was first of all a Senior Advocate, before I was headhunted to come and serve in public office. So, my primary loyalty is to my profession. So, at any point in time, because of posterity, I must speak the truth. I must, because the law does not change. It remains forever.
“I have also vowed, as a member of cabinet and also a Senior Advocate, to uphold and defend the tenets of our constitution at all times. Those are my primary loyalties, to the constitution. So, at any point of time, I’ll express my views. It is only the parliarmentary system that runs collective responsibility. Our presidential system does not run a collective responsibility, where every member of the cabinet is expected to defend every single policy, especially when it did not come to cabinet.”
Regarding how the President, erred, he said: “My view is that the President acted honestly, without the intention to slight the Supreme Court, but he acted on wrong advice. I did not give the advice. It’s not my responsibility. I don’t know who gave that advice. I want to say this openly, because by tomorrow people would ask me where I stood at this time.
“So, I think the President did not, because in his speech, he acknowledged that there were certain matters in court. So, he thought he was playing safe by saying, okay, before you decide this matter in court, may I provide some middle-ground – the country is burning, there’s riot everywhere, so let me just provide some succour to the people, whilst acknowledging that the matters were in court.
“Now, if I were to advise him, would have advised differently. I did not advise him. I don’t know who advised him.
“I would have advised him to comply strictly with the terms of the orders of the Supreme Court, which is that all the notes should circulate for now. All the notes! All the notes should circulate side by side with the new notes for now. That’s the order of the Supreme Court.
“By the virtue of our constitution, all authorities in Nigeria, must obey orders of the Supreme Court. Anything to the contrary is a descent to anarchy and the day we begin to disobey the orders of the Supreme Court, that is an invitation to other kinds of interventions in our democracy. The judiciary, the Supreme Court is the last bastion to defend of our democracy. So, I’ll not sit here as a member of the Inner Bar and desecrate our Supreme Court.”
But in a quick riposte, the PDP, said instead of castigating the President openly, the honorable step for him to take, was to resign his position in protest, adding that his obvious rebellion, was indicative of the discordant tunes not only in the ruling party, but even in the government of Buhari.
Daniel Bwala, spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PDP-PCC), conveying the sentiments of the party, said on the same programme shortly after the Minister spoke that that his action was quite strange, because he was supposed to defend all the actions and pronouncements of the President, who appointed him.
His words: “Festus Keyamo is minister of the republic and a member of the cabinet in the government of the APC in which Buhari presides as the President. The constitution says that executive power of the federation, lies in the President, of which he acts directly or through the Vice President or the Ministers of the federation or other agents of the federation – meaning that every act of Buhari is the same act of the Minister that came here to speak today. Any decision of Buhari, is the decision of the Minister that came to you today.
In a normal clime, where there are men of honour, if you are not comfortable with the decisions, because you say you’re primarily devoted to your profession, honourable men, what they do is to resign from the cabinet, that is resign in protest so that the government will know that they will not be there in the cabinet to support the violation of court order.