A day after President Muhammadu Buhari told British Prime Minister Theresa May that the 2019 election was not on his mind, but rather how to turnaround the Nigerian economy, he announced the appointment of Festus Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as his campaign manager for the 2019 election.
President Buhari on Monday in London at a meeting with May said his main preoccupation now was how to tackle the challenges posed by the economy and insecurity.
However, the appointment of Keyamo, who has been a strong supporter and defender of the president on social media as his spokesperson for the 2019 campaign, is an indication that the president is leaving no stone unturned to ensure he gets a second term in office.
Buhari, who will be 76 years at the time he will be contesting for the 2019 elections, if he wins the primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), announced his intention to seek a second term in office on 8 April and immediately flew out to the UK for a two-week ‘official visit.’
But even before Buhari made public his intention to seek a second term in office, he had already appointed the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, as far back as 2017, as his campaign manager, an indication that he had long made up his minto go for a second term in office.
The appointment of Keyamo, as the head of communication and strategy for his re-election campaign organisation is seen as a marker on the ground by the president that he is not going back on his decision to seek re-election despite opposition from three different retired Generals, who believe he should step aside for his poor performance so far in office and also to give a chance to the younger generation to move the country forward.
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo, who has been very vocal against Buhari’s re-election bid recently, advised Nigerians not to reinforce failure by giving Buhari a second chance. But supporters of Buhari believe he has done well and deserve a second chance. Keyamo, a lawyer, now has the job to convince Nigerians that Buhari deserves a second term.
Keyamo was born in Warri present Delta state, and is a 1992 graduate of law with upper credit form the Ambrose Alli University, (AAU) Ekpoma, Edo state, and 1993 graduate of the Nigerian law school.
Conferred with the rank of a Senior Advocate Nigeria, (SAN) in 2017, Keyamo had over the years been involved in activism. He started his legal practice in the chambers of the late Gani Fawehinmi in Lagos at the height of the agitation for the revalidation of Abiola’s June 12, 1993 presidential mandate.
In spite of being a relatively young lawyer, Keyamo was fearless and was in the forefront of activism with renowned activist like late Abraham Adesanya, Frank Kokori, the late Gani Fawehinmi, the late Ken Saro wiwa, late Beko Ransom Kuti, MKO Abiola and other NADECO leaders who he teamed up with to fight the military regimes.
Unlike his peers in the profession, this early sojourn into activism helped to build Keyamo’s reputation as a lawyer who will fight for the right of people.
Recently, he has been a private prosecuting counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) and has handled and secured conviction of some prominent individuals and politicians.
He won the case of the former Deputy Governor of Adamawa state, Bala James Ngilari, who resigned but was later sworn –in as substantive Governor when Keyamo challenged that his resignation was unconstitutional and that he was supposed to have been sworn in when Murtala Nyako the Governor was impeached.
Over the years he has handled several controversial and landmark cases, among them was being lead counsel to the leader of the Niger –Delta people’s volunteer force, Mujaheed Asari-Dokuboh in his trial for treasonable felony.
Taking up his latest job is a bit of an irony; an activist who will now be selling the candidacy of a former military dictator-turned ‘democrat.’
Buhari’s respect for the rule of law has been questioned considering the number of prominent individuals in detention despite court orders for their release.
Keyamo was the lead counsel for the counsel in the treason trial of the leader of the movement for the actualisation of the sovereign state of Biafra, (MASSOB), Ralph Uwazurike and played a prominent role in their release. Now Keyamo will have to sell the candidacy of Buhari under whose watch, Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has vanished without any trace after the military invaded his family home in 2017.
Reacting to Keyamo’s appointment, a member of the board of trustees of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Ebenezer Babatope, said Buhari was free to appoint anyone he likes into his campaign team, but added that it would not stop the president’s defeat in the 2019 presidential election.
Babatope, berated the administration for failing to fulfil its campaign promises to Nigerians, while warning that the PDP was prepared to capture power in the 2019 general election.
Also speaking, the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin said it was hypocritical for the president to tell the British prime minister Terisa May that he was not interested in politics for now, but only in the economy and security, and the next day appoint people into his campaign team even when he was not yet the candidate of his party.
However, Odumakin, said the president was free to contest, but it was left for Nigerians to decide if they want to continue with the current administration which could not curtail the current killings in the country.
“Buhari was talking in Britain yesterday; that he was not interested in politics for now and that the economy and security was his concern; how come he is appointing people today? It shows he is a hypocrite and cannot be trusted even when has not been given his party ticket.”
“It is left for Nigerians to decide if they want to continue with this kind of government, if they want to continue to bear the killings and bloodshed,” Odumakin said.
Observers believe that the president’s move in appointing a campaign spokesperson has put the opposition on the back foot. While many potential candidates have lined up in the opposition to take Buhari’s job, none is yet to put together a coherent campaign platform which Buhari already looks to have done.
Iniobong Iwok
