The Special Adviser on Media/Research to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Gabriel Emameh, has accused Senator Babafemi Ojudu of attacking Festus Keyamo out of hatred for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In a press statement issued on Friday, November 13, 2026, Emameh said his attention was drawn to a widely circulated piece entitled “Festus, Let Us Preserve the Country,” written by Ojudu, wherein he grossly misrepresented an earlier statement by Keyamo, in what seems a continuation of his self-declared war against President Tinubu, even whilst still claiming to be a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Emameh said Keyamo had only reacted to a pattern of incendiary statements and open threats made by some opposition figures following the ruling by an Abuja Federal High Court presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, nullifying the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and, by implication, invalidating the party’s presidential primary that produced Atiku Abubakar as flag-bearer, as well as others sanctioned by David Mark as National Chairman.
As a senior member of the Bar and member of the Inner Bar, Emameh said Keyamo was only discharging a professional duty by clarifying the letter and spirit of the law and defending the sanctity of the courtroom.
Whilst cautioning against such threats, he affirmed that court pronouncements are sacrosanct, however unpleasant some might find them; that THE HEAVENS WILL NOT FALL.
Quoting Keyamo, Emameh said:
“On February 13, 2020, when the Supreme Court nullified the victory of the APC governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, David Lyon, a day to his swearing-in (when he was in fact inspecting the stadium to be used), the APC took it with equanimity on the chin. When the Supreme Court in 2019 stripped all the APC victorious candidates from top to bottom (Governor to House of Assembly) of their victories at the polls in Zamfara State and replaced them with the PDP candidates that all lost at the polls, this is what Atiku Abubakar said at the time (JUSTICE HAS PREVAILED IN ZAMFARA). That judgment was against the ruling party. We took it on our chins. You cannot abuse judges and blackmail the judiciary when it doesn’t go your way. Heavens WILL NOT FALL IF A CERTAIN ATIKU ABUBAKAR IS NOT ON THE BALLOT IN 2027.”
Emameh said Keyamo’s point was cogent and legally precise: the ADC as a party would remain on the ballot, but Atiku might not be its candidate, because the process that produced his nomination was conducted by a leadership the courts had refused to recognise.
“There is nothing anti-democratic in stating that possibility. It is simply the logical consequence of the judgment,” he said.
“Strip away the manufactured outrage by the likes of Ojudu, and Keyamo’s perspective rests on a simple truth: the heavens do not fall simply because the law takes its course. At no point did the Minister advocate a call to arms or the suppression of the right of the opposition to ventilate their grievances.”
Emameh said it was comforting that Ojudu recalled that the Minister has a pedigree of championing human rights and defending democracy even under military dictatorship when it was very suicidal. He said Keyamo was arrested, detained and falsely charged to court several times on account of his beliefs, and won all the cases.
“But for the avoidance of doubt, let Senator Ojudu be told that Mr. Keyamo has not changed. He remains the same man who cut his teeth in the trenches of human rights advocacy, defending the underdog and insisting that the rules of justice apply to everyone, no matter who is involved,” he said.
He added that Keyamo’s democratic principles also align with the political philosophy of President Tinubu which eschews violence in whatever form, only the contestation of ideas.
Emameh dismissed Ojudu’s suggestion of “growing intolerance” by the ruling party under President Tinubu, describing it as ironic.
“If nothing at all, Ojudu’s own case exemplifies President Tinubu’s culture of tolerance which some of us emulate. It is public knowledge that the former Ekiti Senator remains an intemperate critic of Mr. President and daily weaponises the social media to denigrate Mr. President,” he said.
He recalled that Ojudu’s campaign against the President didn’t start today, noting that way back in 2022, whilst serving as Political Adviser to then Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON, he granted an interview where he stated that in the event President Tinubu emerged APC presidential candidate, he would not support or campaign for him in 2023. Instead, he said he would retire to his cassava farm, aside from calling President Tinubu, his supposed political benefactor in the past, unprintable names.
“But to the glory of God Almighty and the support of right-thinking Nigerians, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu won in 2023. Yet, today, despite Ojudu’s rabid anti-APC posts in the social media, we are not aware that anyone harasses him,” Emameh said.
He added that Ojudu continues to retain a political appointment in the APC-controlled government in Ekiti, drawing full financial benefits, and that Ojudu’s own biological daughter is an appointee of President Tinubu.
“Has anyone attacked her within APC for her father’s act of disloyalty and treachery?” he asked.
Emameh also noted that recently, Ojudu issued a statement where he said “I have not decided who to vote for in the coming presidential polls of 2027”, despite that he continues to call APC “our party” and despite being a member of the Ekiti APC Presidential Campaign Council.
“Has anyone attacked Ojudu or witch-hunted him since? Of course, heaven will truly not fall in Ekiti because of that,” he said.
On Ojudu’s counsel regarding President Tinubu’s democratic legacy, Emameh said since Tinubu assumed office, the political space has remained remarkably open, with opposition coalitions freely organising, merging, and campaigning without State hindrance.
“Unlike the dark chapters of our past, even the worst critic will today admit that under President Tinubu, the nation has not recorded any State-sponsored political assassinations or midnight arrests of political opponents or even any attempt to muzzle dissent,” he said.
On the issue of a private transaction involving the purchase of a property in Wuse in 2009 (actually in 2008) raised by Ojudu, Emameh said Keyamo indeed bought the said property from Independent Communications (owners of TheNews and PM News, with Bayo Onanuga as co-owner at the time) nearly 20 years ago, since Keyamo has been a massive investor in real estate for nearly 30 years.
“We wish Senator Babafemi Ojudu good speed as he continues to exercise his freedom of expression, unhindered, under the Government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Emameh said.
