Who will call Keyamo to order?
Ibrahim, a long standing family friend of Abdullahi Dikko Inde, the Comptroller of Customs, had sworn to an affidavit, accusing the Customs boss of forgery. Ibrahim secured the services of Festus Keyamo, but from the result of a special investigation into the true identity of Festus Keyamo’s client, the table could be turning against Keyamo’s […]
Ibrahim, a long standing family friend of Abdullahi Dikko Inde, the Comptroller of Customs, had sworn to an affidavit, accusing the Customs boss of forgery.
Ibrahim secured the services of Festus Keyamo, but from the result of a special investigation into the true identity of Festus Keyamo’s client, the table could be turning against Keyamo’s client who is alleged to be guilty of the same forgery allegations he heaped on the customs chief.
Keyamo had in a statement, alleged that Dikko was so desperate to kill the allegation by his former boy, Mr. Olajide Oyewole Ibrahim, that almost all the certificates of the Customs boss were forged for him by the boy.
The police requested for the certified true copies of Olajide’s educational background, particularly an attempt to verify his claim that he forged one of the certificates at the Nigerian Institute of Management, NIM, while he served as a Youth Corper has resulted in a big surprise as the police have now received concrete information that Olajide was an impostor and had not attended any of the schools he claimed to have attended since leaving primary school.
The Olajide issue is coming to a sorry pass with the result of a special investigation into the true identity of Festus Keyamo’s client. A statement signed by Olajide’s lawyer, Festus Keyamo, states that Alhaji Dikko is so desperate to kill the allegation by his former boy, Mr. Olajide Oyewole Ibrahim, that almost all the certificates of the Customs boss were forged for him by the boy.
A letter from the Commissioner of police Legal and Prosecutions, dated May 21, 2010 and addressed to AH Umar, the Capital Law Officer, conveyed the results of the investigations from the Polytechnic Ibadan, Nigeria Institute of Management, Oke Odo Junior High School and the National Youth Service Corp.
The Polytechnic, in a letter dated 18 December 2009, from the office of the Registrar, Tosho Ayanwale, stated that “after a careful search through our records, I am to inform you that this institution, the polytechnic Ibadan, has no records of the studentship or graduation of the said Mr Olajide Ibrahim Oyewole.
Similarly, the Nigerian Institute of Management, in its letter signed by Tola Odumuyiwa, on the same subject matter, disowned Olajide Ibrahim Oyewole saying he was not found as any of the corps members for the said year, 1995/1996.
However, a dispatch from the principal of Oke Odo Junior High School, said Olajide was admitted in 1983 and that his admission number was 728. He was born in 1971 and passed out in 1988.
While the above findings properly situate Olajide in the realms of questionable characters, it throws up the subject of why Festus Keyamo is always eager to hitch-hike on the crest of horrific blockbusters.
It also suffice to take a retrospective journey to the Keyamo’s antecedents in the handling of suspicious cases, including the one on the death of the late Attorney General of the federation and Minister for Justice, Chief Bola Ige, where he deposed to affidavits and represented Damola Adebayo alias Fryo.
The twists and turns that characterised investigations into the murder of former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige continued when counsel to the prime suspect (a.k.a “Fryo”), Festus Keyamo, was accused by a man claiming to be his younger brother, Lucky Keyamo, of doctoring the confessional statements made by the suspect.
Before Olajide’s case another case, involving Keyamo was the case involving the Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN) over the various price lists, and insisted that the company “must refund about N0.5 billion being the difference of the money paid for the purchase of the 20 Comfort Peugeot 407 cars and 360 ST Sport Automatic Peugeot car into the coffers of the House of Representatives.
His exchanges with members of the House Ethics Committee led to name calling, abuse, and death threats, despite attempts by the Committee Chairman, Sani Saleh Minjibir, to control the situation.
A member of the Committee, Yakubu Dogara (PDP, Bauchi) questioned Keyamo on the authenticity of the documents he attached to the letter he wrote to Speaker Dimeji Bankole. Keyamo refused to disclose his source. This angered some members of the Committee.
Nnenna Ukeje (PDP, Abia) accused him of not having anything substantial to prove his case, and of merely “playing to the gallery. At a point, Ogoriba got up and declared: “I will kill him (Keyamo). I am a street boy from Port Harcourt.” Jerry Manwe (PDP, Taraba) joined in, adding: “The boy (Keyamo) is a criminal. In fact, he made a submission and he’s contradicting himself.”
A reflection on the cited cases would rather portray Keyamo as either an individual who is in a hurry to hit public space, or someone who enjoys controversy. But from whatever perspective one examines Keyamo, the truth to my mind, is that he need to listen to good counsel.
Balogun wrote in from Wuse, Abuja