By Sam Akpe
Earlier than Festus Keyamo, SAN, joined the federal government of Muhammadu Buhari, lots of people, together with myself, perceived him to be good, heroic and intellectually loaded. I believe he nonetheless is.
The opposite particular person whom I equally had the identical impression about was Femi Fani-Kayode, for some causes. Let me recall an incident.
One thing dramatic occurred when President Olusegun Obasanjo nominated Fani-Kayode for a ministerial appointment. He went to the Senate able to take a bow and go, in spite of everything, he was Baba’s Boy. That didn’t occur.
When he appeared earlier than the Committee of the Entire Senate for affirmation screening, his nomination was dumped within the nearest waste-paper basket.
The senators took turns to tongue-lash him over his previous insults in opposition to senior residents earlier than sending him again to Obasanjo, with no affirmation.
These had been the times, when the Senate, with PDP members within the majority, may stand its grounds in opposition to a President produced by the identical PDP. At sure factors, they’d the temerity to override his veto over payments.
The Senate of that period used to show down a number of presidential nominees for various workplaces, together with ministerial and ambassadorial. At some extent, they demanded that Minister Nasiru el-Rufai be sacked.
Nonetheless, primarily based on the extraordinary lobbying or strain which Obasanjo heaped on particular person senators and the Senate management, when Fani-Kayode re-appeared (I believe, for the second or third time), he had a uncommon likelihood to handle the Chamber.
He was beautifully spectacular. He took the ground, created a pin-drop silence and held the senators spell-bound with an eloquent narrative.
Virtually in tears, he informed a pitiable story of his life, apologized repeatedly for his previous misdemeanors and declared: “I do what I do, as a result of I’m the President’s armour bearer. I take the bullets on his behalf.”
On the finish, whether or not out of pity, conviction or strain, he was cleared for appointment as minister, with a warning, to go and sin no extra.
Again to Keyamo. This man instructions a measure of appeal in his diction and composure. In these days, anytime I heard him converse, I had this impression that he may have performed a lot good to broadcasting if he weren’t a lawyer. This was earlier than he joined politics and started to take pleasure in vanity.
Shortly after becoming a member of politics, he began behaving like these he used to sentence or drag to courts. He tried to speak like them and appeared to take pleasure in their firm. We knew immediately that we had misplaced an ethical crusader.
However one thing occurred on Wednesday when President Buhari summoned all his ministers for a valedictory session. Keyamo did what he was recognized for earlier than he was conscripted into politics the place private pursuits are disguised as patriotism.
Recall that Keyamo was appointed Minister of State within the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in August 2019, however was shortly redeployed to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, nonetheless as minister of state.
Unconfirmed reviews had it that President Buhari was arm-twisted into taking that call by those that feared that Keyamo, an clearly extremely principled persona, and Senator Godswill Akpabio, who was the senior minister in the identical ministry, had been unusual bedfellows.
Whereas serving within the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Keyamo engaged the Nationwide Meeting in an avoidable face-off that nearly bruised his ego. He was fortunate that it was a Nationwide Meeting produced by the Government the place he belonged. Else, he would have been given the el-Rufai’s therapy.
Love him or despise him, after 4 years as minister, Keyamo has performed what solely Keyamo can do in Buhari’s cupboard. He has spoken the reality to energy.
He informed the President, in no unsure phrases, that for eight years, he, Buhari, had breached the 1999 Structure by appointing Ministers of States—one thing that’s unusual to the supreme regulation of the land.
By so doing, Keyamo has additionally rubbished himself. The workplace which he honestly declared as unconstitutional was the place he stayed for 4 years, incomes illegal salaries and fats allowances.
However wait a second! Why did he preserve his mouth shut for thus lengthy over one thing his conscience disagreed with?
The reply is easy: it’s a unhealthy desk method to speak whereas consuming. It positively would have been unwise for Keyamo to disclaim himself the luxurious ration of the nationwide cake simply because he didn’t wish to breach the structure. However now, the dinner is over. He can discuss freely.
This was how he addressed the difficulty: “Mr. President, the idea or designation of ‘Minister of State’ is a constitutional aberration and is virtually not working for a lot of so appointed.” I can think about President Buhari him in utter shock.
Keyamo continued: “As a personal citizen, I’m on file to have gone to court docket numerous instances to problem unconstitutional acts of governments for the sake of advancing our constitutional democracy.
“So, it is going to be out of character for me to have gone via authorities and be carried away by the pomp of public workplace and neglect my position as a member of the Interior Bar and my self-imposed position over time as a crusader for democracy and constitutionalism.”
Citing related sections of the Structure, Keyamo confirmed with unquestionable authorized authority that no part of our legal guidelines permits the President to nominate a minister of state, an workplace he, Keyamo, loved for 4 years.
He argued that through the affirmation screening by the Senate, each ministerial nominee is grilled and cleared as ministers. None is addressed as Minister of State till when portfolios are assigned by the President.
Many individuals will certainly agree with Keyamo that each Buhari and former Presidents have carried out this act in complete ignorance of the provisions of the structure. There is no such thing as a room for senior and junior minsters, as a result of no state is senior to the opposite.
One other side of his revelation that is smart is the “constitutional impossibility” of a senior minister delegating state capabilities to the minister of state. Such powers lie solely with the President, in any other case, “how can somebody who took the identical Oath of Workplace with one other delegate capabilities to that different?”
Fairly revealing is the truth that ministers of state can’t current memos through the Federal Government Council conferences; besides with the permission of the senior minister. Isn’t this an anomaly?
With this, it means, as Keyamo argued, that the discretion of the minister of state is subsumed within the discretion of the senior minister. But each of them, by their appointments, characterize completely different states within the cupboard.
As well as, he drew consideration to the truth that it might be unattainable to evaluate the person performances of the ministers of state since their discretion is shackled underneath the discretion of the senior ministers, which means that concepts developed by a minister of state should be cleared by the senior minister earlier than they’ll sail via for consideration by FEC.
At each level, Keyamo saved reminding his boss that the drafters of the 1999 Structure clearly had no such intention. Ministers of states are idle public servants. They earn salaries for doing nothing. Their each day actions are on the discretion of the senior ministers.
So, why did somebody not discover and lift alarm on this anomaly for the reason that First Republic? Little doubt, Keyamo has despatched a powerful message to the incoming administration. It’s one other manner of telling the following President to be extra constitutional and inventive in terms of appointment of ministers.
The query that’s nonetheless hanging is why Keyamo needed to wait till now earlier than drawing Buhari’s consideration to this aberration. He took benefit of a generational illegality solely to lift hell whereas anticipating one other appointment from the incoming administration.
Really, the dinner is over. The desk has been cleared. It’s time for late evening tales, in anticipation of a breakfast at dawn. What if Keyamo is obtainable one other appointment as minister of state, will he flip it down?
Or, having occupied an unconstitutional workplace for 4 years, and having found that his earnings, although permitted, had been unlawful for the reason that workplace he occupied was an illegality, are we anticipating a refund?
Severely, Keyamo has performed properly to talk out – even when his outcry suits the cliché: medication after dying. It’s by no means too late to appropriate a fallacious act. Henceforth, no extra Minister of State.
