Dino Melaye, a senator who represented Kogi West in the eighth National Assembly, has threatened to dismember Festus Keyamo, the minister of state for labor and employment, for his recent criticism of PDP presidential contender Atiku Abubakar.
In an interview with Channels TV on Friday, Keyamo claimed that Atiku had nothing to offer the nation and that the PDP candidate lacked the necessary skills to lead Nigeria as president.
According to the minister, Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Labour Party, is significantly more qualified and experienced than Atiku.
Dino responded to Keyamo’s remark by saying that the Minister lacked the moral character to criticize Atiku.
In response, Keyamo, the spokeswoman for Atiku’s 2023 presidential campaign, asserted that anyone who has held the vice presidency is qualified for the presidency.
Dino challenged the minister to a discussion in a video posted to his social media accounts, threatening to shatter Keyamo into pieces if he lost.
He said, “Ask Nigerians today, what portfolio is Keyamo holding? Many will tell you that they don’t even know the ministry he is working in because he is redundant, inactive, and not visible.
“Because he is not known as Minister, he is mistaking his officer as a Minister of State for the office of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. No Nigerian who is educated, and intellectually okay will abuse the office of the Vice President of Nigeria.
“What Keyamo attacked is not Atiku Abubakar but the office of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the number two office in this country.
“Because he has monetized his conscience, that is why he will not understand that the office of Nigerian VP has some ministries, agencies under its direct supervision and oversight.
“That is why he will not know that in the absence of the president, the vice president is the acting president with executive power anytime the president is out of the country. So what he has done is that he has abused the office of Nigerian VP even as a lawyer who should understand the constitutionality of that office.
“Anyone who has been a VP is fit to be a president. Can Keyamo also say that Atiku has not succeeded internationally as a businessman?
“Just because you are acting under ‘sekpe’ or under the influence of marijuana, you just smoke your ganja and you think you can just open your mouth and talk? Because you are defending someone who takes drugs more than food today?
“You are talking rubbish and I am going to challenge you to a debate. Nigerians know who you are, they know that you are a commercialized character, a failed politician.
“I challenge you to a debate and when we sit down, I will break you into pieces”.