‘You’re Desperate For Bigger Appointment’ — Bwala Slams Keyamo After Faulting Buhari For Making Him Minister

Daniel Bwala, a spokesperson for Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has accused Festus Keyamo of being desperate for an appointment in the incoming administration of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The accusation came about 24 hours after Keyama criticized the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing him as a junior minister in his cabinet.

At Wednesday’s valedictory session of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), Keyamo was reported as telling President Buhari that appointing Ministers of State was a constitutional aberration

“Mr. President, you first appointed me as Minister of State in the Ministry Niger Delta Affairs in August, 2019 and you later redeployed me as Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Employment,” Keyamo noted while thanking the president for enriching “my curriculum vitae”.

Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), however, added: “What I am about to say, therefore, is not and should not be construed as an indication of ingratitude. Far from it. What I am about to say is just my own little contribution to our constitutional development as a relatively young democracy and to aid future governments to optimize the performance of those they appoint as Ministers.

“Mr. President, the concept or designation of “Minister of State” is a constitutional aberration and is practically not working for many so appointed. Successive governments have come and gone and many who were appointed as Ministers of State have not spoken out at a forum such as this because of the risk of sounding ungrateful to the Presidents who appointed them. However, like I said earlier, this is not ingratitude.”

Responding to Keyamo’s criticism of his soon-to-be former boss, Bwala accused the minister of being driven by personal ambition and an insatiable desire for political power, alleging that his criticism was a calculated move to secure a higher position in the incoming administration.

“He wants to ambush Tinubu to give him a substantive ministerial role, hence his argument that Buhari appointing him as minister of state is unconstitutional,” said Bwalwa who is equally a lawyer.

“That’s exactly how he wanted the role of AGF and went to NASS confirmation hearing and was answering in this manner “If I become AGF” it got PMB’s chief of staff mad and they gave him an inconsequential role first under Niger Delta, the substantive minister then allegedly complained and he was further re-assigned to labour as “under secretary’ aka minister of state. Sources close to Tinubu revealed,” he said.

Keyamo has yet to respond to Bwala.