The Minister of State for Labour and Employment in Nigeria, Festus Keyamo, has come out to defend himself against allegations of fraud and corruption after he was accused of purchasing a property worth over $300,000 in the United States of America with stolen funds.

Keyamo was dragged on social media after photos of him standing in front of a building worth over $300,000 went viral on the internet. While confirming that the property belongs to him, Keyamo said he acquired it with money he made from legal practice.

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In a series of tweets, Keyamo said he had decided to bait his critics, who he referred to as sore losers at the last elections, with a video of his vacation in “one of my properties abroad” as he did a light workout. Expectedly, he said they fell so terribly for the bait, saying they seem to view everyone from their depraved universe and assume everyone will wallow in the same moral squalor as them.

Giving an account of how he bought the property, Keyamo said he had, on March 6, 2019, written to the relevant government agencies, informing them of the closure of his foreign account(s) and the repatriation of the funds to the country, “being some savings I had made as a private legal practitioner and a property investor over decades.”

Keyamo said the foreign funds were lying in his accounts until he was appointed Minister in 2019. “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,” he said.

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The Minister went on to say that he laughed when he saw the trending issues regarding “just one of my properties in the US.” He described as very laughable the fact that some think that he could not afford such a property after his 30 years of active, high-profile practice of law. He said some people seemed to underrate him because he had chosen to live a simple and modest life and not given to the ostentatious display of wealth.