Phrank Shaibu, a media aide to the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar has called for the resignation of the Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo.
This came following the criticism of the cashless policy put forward by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN by the minister.
The media aide to the PDP’s presidential candidate advised the minister to tender his resignation if he does not agree with the federal government on the redesigned currency policy.
The Informant247 earlier reported that the minister said his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari allowed himself to be fed with wrong advice, concerning the naira swap policy.
Keyamo who’s also the spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), affirmed that his boss acted on wrong advice.
The Informant247 recalls that the Nigerian leader on Thursday revealed through national broadcast, directing that only the old N200 notes should remain acceptable as legal tender in circulation till April 10, 2023.
The president directed that the old N500 and N1000 should stop being legal tender in the country.
The 3 state governments — Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara had earlier approached the supreme Court — as the apex court ruled that the old naira notes should be accepted in the country till February 22, 2023.
There have been demonstrations in some parts of the country — some of which have led to destruction of bank facilities.
On Thursday, Buhari said he has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the validity of old N200 notes till April 10 – despite a subsisting order of the supreme court which held that all the old notes are still legal tender.
Shaibu said: “Keyamo should be bold enough to condemn the president and resign just as some ministers usually resign in the United Kingdom when they don’t agree with the Prime Minister’s action,” he said.
“If he wants to criticize the president, let him do it boldly with his full chest instead of attacking some unnamed advisers of the president and portraying the President as a helpless old man who does not have a mind of his own.
“That is a cowardly approach.”
“To be clear, Festus Keyamo has been the minister of state for labour and employment since 2019,” he said.
“Under the watch of this retired activist and erstwhile rights crusader, ASUU has spent a combined 18 months on strike in 43 months.
“Keyamo never spoke up. In fact, he dumped ASUU at the negotiation table to go and campaign for Bola Tinubu.
“When he was confronted on national television, he asked parents to go and negotiate with lecturers. Suddenly, he has found his voice because of a cashless policy that will deter his new master from deploying bullion vans on election day.”