Fani-Kayode To Keyamo: I'll Clear Myself In Court

A former Minister of Aviation and Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has reacted to an assertion by Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo that it was morally wrong for President Goodluck Jonathan to have appointed him to serve in the PDP presidential campaign organization, vowing to defend himself on corruption charges brought against him.

Keyamo, who is the prosecutor in the case brought by the EFCC against Fani-Kayode, had insisted in a press release he sent to the media that with Fani-Kayode’s appointment, President Jonathan had shown that he was not interested in fighting corruption, calling on Nigerians to reject the president in the February 14 presidential election.

But Fani-Kayode, in a statement released in Abuja on Monday by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Sufuyan Ojeifo, said he was waiting for the next adjourned date of his trial to clear himself.

The statement said: "They initially claimed that he (Fani-Kayode) stole ₦19.5 billion of the Aviation Intervention Fund but this was thrown out by the courts for want of evidence.

"After that, in 2008, Keyamo filed a bogus 47-count money laundering charge on behalf of the Farida Waziri-led EFCC in which he claimed that Chief Fani-Kayode had laundered ₦200 million.

"In 2014, he reduced it to a 40-count charge and reduced the amount that was allegedly laundered from ₦200m to ₦99m. Earlier this year, 38 of those 40 counts, which collectively represented ₦97m, were thrown out by the court for want of evidence.

"The remaining two counts, which represent ₦1m each, will be defended on February 23rd and 24th. Chief Fani-Kayode looks forward to that date because he is innocent and he has every confidence in God and the Nigerian judiciary."

According to Ojeifo, Keyamo has failed to appreciate the fact that the days of prosecuting people on the pages of newspapers without any hard evidence and trying to intimidate innocent people with the EFCC were long over.

Credit: Daily Post