I Disagree With You Sir- Keyamo Counters Okowa Over Shettima’s Claim To Take Charge Of Security If Elected

Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo has reacted to the trending statement made by the governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa on the claim of Senator Kashim Shettima that he would be in charge of National Security if elected in 2023.

Shettima while presenting a speech on behalf of his principal, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the NBA conference a week ago revealed that he will be in charge of security and lead the battle from the front if they are elected in the forthcoming presidential election.

The vice presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress noted that he would replicate the achievement he made in the area of security while he was governor of Borno state. He planned to deploy the instrumentality of his experience as the then Chief Security Officer in the state to crush Bandits and any other form of terrorism across the country.

Responding to the statement on Wednesday while granting an interview to Journalists at his residence, Ifeanyi Okowa, who is the vice presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party expressed his shock at the statement from Shettima.

Okowa asked if there is going to be a reversal of position that will make the vice president take charge of the country’s security responsibility.

He revealed that it will be absurd if such happens in Nigeria. According to Okowa, it is the constitutional responsibility of the president to provide adequate security for the citizens. If anything goes wrong with security, it is the president that will give account to the public and not the vice president.

He asked if Shettima would sit at the council of security meeting to give account of national security when the president is still alive.

However responding to Okowa’s view, Festus Keyamo who is the Spokesperson for Tinubu Campaign Organization expressed his disagreement with the Delta State Governor.

Keyamo cited the 1999 constitution that enables the president to assign any responsibility to his deputy or minister. And this may include some aspect of security issues too. He said that is why there is minister of Defence.

He made this known on his verified Twitter handle on Thursday.

In a series of tweet, Festus Keyamo wrote:

“I respectfully disagree, your Excellency. Under the 1999 Constitution, the President may assign ANY RESPONSIBILITY within his purview to either his VP or Ministers. This may include some aspects of security issues too. That is why, for instance, you have a Minister of Defence.

“It is possible, your Excellency, that in the well-known forward-thinking nature of @officialABAT, possible assignment of some responsibilities in this regard have been discussed with his VP-to-be & H.E Shettima just can’t wait to hit the ground running. This is not absurd, sir

“When H.E Shettima says ‘taking charge’, it’s in the context of discharging responsibilities assigned to him by @officialABAT. But he will report back to his boss just as your principal Atiku Abubakar was reporting to OBJ since he wasn’t in a position to make any final decision”