Festus Keyamo, the spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, has been referred to as a “Troublesome Interloper” by Dele Momodu, Director of Strategic Communications for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organization.
In response to Keyamo’s lawsuit against PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, who is accused of using Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to steal public monies between 1999 and 2007, Momodu made this statement.
Momodu claimed in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune on Friday that the Minister of State for Labour and Employment is seeking attention for the demands, for the former Vice President’s arrest and prosecution.
He claimed that Bola Tinubu, the party’s presidential candidate, has suffered more harm as a result of Keyamo’s behavior as the APC PCC’s spokesperson than Atiku, and he added that his principal cannot be compared to Tinubu.
Momodu claimed Keyamo’s “gutter language and behavior,” which he defined as his friend, have constantly called for his attacks against Tinubu, and he added that it is his job to stand up for Atiku.
He said: “I’m not in a position to speak about legal issues. As far as I’m concerned, Festus Keyamo is just a troublesome interloper who is looking for attention at all times. And what he has done with that is he has done more damage to Tinubu than to Atiku.
“Senator Dino Melaye spoke on a television Programme and brought new insights to the issues because a lot of people who were not looking at it that way started seeing Tinubu in another light. What Dino said was that Nigeria cannot have a president who is a Pablo Escobar and a Vice President who is Osama bin Laden.
“So, I don’t like it if I have to wrestle with a pig but he’s decided that that’s what he wants. Atiku has told us frontally and clearly that he wants to run an issue-based campaign and you can see him. If you like slap him, he can turn the other cheek. That’s him, otherwise, he would have replied Baba Obasanjo long ago.
“That is why that misperception was able to stick with him. But it is in the character of Fulani. They don’t make noise. A lot of us make noise about a lot of things whether we know the truth or we don’t know it; whether we have the facts or we don’t have it. We just like to whip up all kinds of things.
The PDP chieftain described the court case instituted by Keyamo and the ruling party against Atiku as a waste of Tinubu’s money.
He added that despite a series of allegations against Tinubu, Atiku and the PDP chose to remain silent about it.
He added: “They’re wasting it already on funding a serial blackmailer from escaping from Nigeria to wherever he’s hiding. Nobody is pursuing him. But we know the details, we know what happened and we know why he’s doing what he’s doing.
“That wasn’t the first time he would release the thing, he was looking for a potential buyer and they bought it. So, when they go to court, we will see what will come out of it.”