Twitter has temporarily limited access to the account of the Nigerian journalist who exposed the details of a property the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, acquired in the United States of America.
An anonymous Nigerian journalist who uses @PIDOMNIGERIA handle on Twitter had published a document exposing how Keyamo bought a property in Texas, United States worth over $359,000.
The document showed that Keyamo got the property at 5509 Silver Canyon LN TX 77583 in Savannah Trace, with no traceable income that could justify the purchase.
Posting alongside some of the documents now removed by Twitter for violating Twitter rules, the journalist wrote, “Barrister Festus Keyamo @fkeyamo is a common thief, who @officialEFCC should investigate & prosecute. He bought this three hundred & two thousand Dollars property in the United State, ($302,080) just 2 years after he was appointed minister of state for Labour. Go and verify.”
Reacting to the revelation, the minister in a statement released on his Twitter handle said that he decided to bait the “horde of sore losers at the last elections with a video of my vacation in ONE OF MY PROPERTIES abroad as I did a light workout.
“Expectedly, they fell so terribly for the bait. Being folks of low moral standards, they seem to view everyone from their own depraved universe. Given same position of public trust and authority, I bet they would easily compromise. So, they assume everyone will wallow in the same moral squalor like them.”
Keyamo added, “By letters dated March 6, 2019 (long before I was appointed a Minister and immediately I was appointed a Board member of the NDIC), and in line with our Constitution, I wrote to the relevant government agencies, informing them of the closure of my foreign account(s) and the repatriation of my funds to the country, being some savings I had made as a private legal practitioner and a property investor over decades.
“The numbers of those accounts, both abroad and in Nigeria were clearly stated in those letters. Those foreign funds were lying in my accounts until my appointment as a Minister later in 2019 and formed part of my assets declaration.
“In 2021, I again wrote to the relevant agencies (by letters dated January 22, 2021), informing them of the movement of those funds out of the country to purchase a property as a better investment decision, instead of the funds lying idly in the account whilst I am in public office. The letters were duly acknowledged.
“I followed up again with Whatsapp chats same day to the heads of those agencies, informing them of the delivery of those letters and the contents of the letters and they acknowledged receipt. I have the acknowledged copies of those letters and those chats and replies are still on my phone, showing the dates of those chats.”
But on Saturday night, the journalist said Keyamo and supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) reported his account and that Twitter had limited his access to the account for violating its rules by publishing private information.
“They reported my account over the expose I did on Festus Keyamo.
“My account was temporarily blocked for 18 hours. I appealed, but twitter forced me to delete the tweet.
“Free speech is dead under Elon musk. Festus Keyamo is a public figure who should be scrutinized. It is well.”
