Festus Keyamo, who is the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, has spoken out about a house he was said to have bought in the U.S. He said that he did not buy the house with stolen money.
Obasanjonews24 says that Keyamo was made fun of on social media after he showed up in front of a building in the US that cost more than $300,000.
Keyamo confirmed that the house was his and said that he bought it with money he made as a lawyer.
Keyamo said on Twitter that he had chosen to bait the group of people he called “sore losers” from the last election by posting a video of his holiday in “one of my properties abroad” while he did a light workout.
He said that, as expected, they took the bait so badly. He said that they seem to look at everyone from their morally twisted point of view and assume that everyone is as bad as they are.
Keyamo explained how he bought the property by saying that on March 6, 2019, he had written to the relevant government agencies to let them know that he had closed his foreign account(s) and brought the money back to the country. He said that the money came from savings he had made as a private lawyer and property investor over many years.
Keyamo said that the foreign money had been sitting in his accounts until he became Minister in 2019.
“In 2021, I wrote to the relevant agencies again (with letters dated January 22, 2021) to let them know that I was moving those funds out of the country to buy a property, which was a better investment than letting the money sit in the account while I was in public office,” he said.
The Minister said he laughed when he saw that “just one of my properties in the US” was in the news.
He thought it was very funny that some people thought he couldn’t afford such a house after 30 years of being a high-profile lawyer.
He said that some people seemed to think less of him because he chose to live an easy life and didn’t show off his money.
He said that the house is “about the cheapest of my several properties.”
Keyamo also said that his thriving and staffed law offices and real estate investments still make him more money than helping Nigeria. He said, “Our work for my country is a labour of love.”
He said, “Some of us don’t need money or help from the government to get by.”
