Keyamo Condemns Oyo-Ita For ‘Whispering’ To President Buhari
Constitutional lawyer Festus Keyamo (SAN) has condemned the Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita, for the manner she confronted President Muhammadu Buhari over the reinstatement of ex-pension boss Abdulrasheed Maina, into the civil service.
The human rights lawyer faulted Oyo-Ita’s claim that she called Buhari aside after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on October 11, where she warned Buhari against bringing Maina back to the service.
Speaking with Thisday, he said the HoS breached the standard bureaucratic practice by calling Buhari aside and whispering to his ear, rather than putting her views in writing.
Keyamo said: ”I have read her memo very well where she said after the FEC meeting, she called the president aside, and spoke to him orally. Government is all about bureaucracy and not oral communication.
”If she had reservations about Maina recall, she should have put it to the president in black and white for him to look at it. Whispering in itself is not a standard procedure in bureaucracy. She can not whisper into the ears of the president as if it was a secret society.”
He said the memo from the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to Oyo-Ita was only advisory and that if she was opposed to the reinstatement of Maina to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, she should have carried out her objection in writing to the president.
Keyamo said the AGF got the matter wrongly and should have handled it differently by helping EFCC to appeal the court judgment brought by Maina, instead of reinstating the erstwhile Pensions Reforms Commission boss.
