NAGAFF Carpets Keyamo Over Certificate Forgery

The maritime stakeholders under the umbrella of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Public Policy Advocacy department has carpeted the Lagos based lawyer and human rights activist, Barrister Festus Keyamo over the embattled Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service.

The group urged Lagos lawyer Festus Keyamo to follow due process in handling the allegation of certificate forgery against the present Comptroller General and not to make a mess of it.

In a statement signed by the National President of NAGAFF, Usman S. Sanusi and Barrister Fred Akokhia, NAGAFF Legal Adviser, and made available to The Tide On Sunday in Lagos, stated that a careful appraisal of Keyamo’s antics in recent times seems to leave a sour taste in the mouth of not a few critically-minded Nigerians including NAGAFF as a body.

“A feeling of fear and misgiving whether you are really toeing, the foot steps of other heroes past/present who had charted this same course, the likes of late Alao Aka-Bashorun, Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekhome, Femi Falana, late Ubani and late Dr Beko Ransom Kuti”, the association posited.

The association alleged that Keyamo had handled many cases in the past without seeing to their successive end. They mentioned the case of a young university drop-out called Baba Fryo, who claimed to know those who killed former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola lge, adding that the claim was found to be untrue when Keyamo’s younger brother Lucky Keyamo made a revelation on the well-planned blackmail which he said “himself was involved.

“Not long after that, you again paraded another young man who told Nigerians that he was part of a killer squad hired to kill the then governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Kalu. The man gave full details  of how they were moving from one state to the other, to strategize on how to carry out their nefarious act. The young man claimed they were hired by former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih. Again after much drama you handed over the man to the police, the claim was found to be untrue”, the association said.

The association noted that some couple of months ago, “you came up with another allegation bordering on financial crimes against the leadership of the House of Representatives over the purchase of some units of Peugeot 407 Cars.

“The allegations raised a lot of dust, investigations were carried out by both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the House of Representatives. Relevant bodies like officials of the House and Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) testified and provided documents, figures and data, adding that at the end of the day, the allegations were found to be spurious.

The association advised that the Lagos based lawyer should stop judging the case on the pages of newspapers as it is not the normal practice in law. NAGAFF asked that concerning the matter of certificate forgery involving the Comptroller-General, Keyamo should leave everything to the court of law to determine, instead of pronouncing the man guilty before the outcome of the court.

“We will want to believe that as a lawyer, you are not unaware that matters that are before a court of competent jurisdiction should not be subject to adjudication on the pages of newspapers. This unfortunately you have decided to do in most of the cases you have had the privilege of handling”.

NAGAFF noted that Keyamo’s action was unprofessional and clearly against the ethics of the legal profession and the judiciary.