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 man¬ager 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 chal¬lenges 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 un¬turned 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 sec¬ond term in office, he had already appointed the Minister of Trans¬portation, 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 vo¬cal 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 Fawe¬hinmi 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 fear¬less 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 profes¬sion, this early sojourn into activ¬ism helped to build Keyamo’s reputation as a lawyer who will fight for the right of people.
Recently, he has been a pri¬vate 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 resig¬nation 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.
