Femi Fani-Kayode is a bigoted, anti-Igbo tribalist
By Femi Aribisala
—– Femi Fani-Kayode himself is no more Lagosian than the Igbo he berates. The Fani-Kayodes are not from Lagos. They are from Ile-Ife in Osun State. Femi Fani-Kayode’s only legitimate claim to Lagos is that he was born there. But then so were many Igbos who are, therefore, Lagosians. Moreover, Igbo-Lagosians have one up on Femi Fani-Kayode. They live in Lagos. Femi Fani-Kayode does not. Igbo-Lagosians work in Lagos and pay taxes to the LagosState government. Femi Fani-Kayode does not…. —–
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The year was 1965. I was an innocent starry-eyed 13 year-old and Nigeria was in turmoil. It was the era of the “wetie,” when the houses of politicians and key public-figures were burnt down in the brouhaha that was then Western Nigeria.
We lived in Oke-Ado in Ibadan and our next-door neighbour was Chief Ogundiran, a minister in the government of Chief S.L. Akintola, the Premier of the Western Region. (Ogundiran was famous for only wearing white.) In the spirit of the times, a mob came early one morning and burnt down his house. He jumped out of the window and managed to escape.
Fani-Power, Fani-igbo: I was having private lessons in Mathematics at the home of a colleague, Enitan Abiodun, when we heard the noise of a crowd outside. We rushed to the veranda to see Chief Remi Fani-Kayode (alias Fani-Power), then Deputy Governor of the Western Region, standing on the seat of a moving convertible. He was surrounded by a mob, which was shouting and hailing him. On hearing the noise, Enitan’s mother rushed to the veranda shouting “Awo!” only to discover that the people outside were not supporters of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, but those of his arch-enemies.
The shout of “Awo!” by Mrs. Abiodun brought the procession to a screeching halt. “Who said that? Who said that?” demanded the mob, enraged. “Fani-Power” turned and looked up at us. His eyes were the usual blood-shot red. At the time, many claimed it was because he regularly smoked Indian-hemp. Fani-Kayode pointed to our building and identified to his thugs that the offending shout came from our direction. We did not know that the floor of the convertible he was standing in was loaded with empty bottles. His thugs reached for the bottles and rained them down on us as we all scrambled back inside the house for dear life.
Like father, like son: That was 48 years ago. Today, Femi Fani-Kayode, the 53-year-old son of “Fani-Power,” continues in the mischievous tradition of his father: throwing dangerous missiles at the innocent. He recently wrote an incendiary article entitled: “The Bitter Truth About the Igbo,” in which he maligned the Igbos and virtually told them to get out of Lagos and leave Lagos for the Yorubas.
What is peculiar about the article is that Femi Fani-Kayode himself is no more Lagosian than the Igbos he berates. The Fani-Kayodes are not from Lagos. They are from Ile-Ife in OsunState. Femi Fani-Kayode’s only legitimate claim to Lagos is that he was born there.
But then so were many Igbos who are, therefore, Lagosians. Moreover, Igbo-Lagosians have one up on Femi Fani-Kayode. They live in Lagos. Femi Fani-Kayode does not. Igbo-Lagosians work in Lagos and pay taxes to the LagosState government. Femi Fani-Kayode does not. Therefore, what right does he have to write his diatribe against them? What right does he have to maintain Lagos does not belong to Igbo-Lagosians?
Having thrown these bottles maliciously, Femi Fani-Kayode decided to throw a few more. He wrote another invective entitled: “A Word For Those Who Say I Am A Tribalist.” In order to demonstrate that he was not anti-Igbo, he presented the cliché that some of his best friends are Igbos. As proof, he detailed three Igbo women (some of them happily-married) he claims to have had affairs with. Only God knows how this shows he is not biased against the Igbos. Slave-traders slept with their slaves. Is that proof they were not racist?
The jury is out already. Femi Fani-Kayode is a bigoted tribalist. Only a tribalist can say he is not anti-Igbo and then say this about the Igbos: “(They are) collectively unlettered, uncouth, uncultured, unrestrained and crude in all their ways.” “They have no restraining factors because money and the acquisition of wealth is their sole objective and purpose in life.”
Clearly, Femi Fani-Kayode is out of control. He has become something of a train-wreck. He was President Obasanjo’s agent-provocateur for so long, where he maligned elder-statesmen like Yakubu Gowon; he no longer knows how to speak with decorum.
The American model: I am Yoruba. Nevertheless, I repeat; the Igbos of Lagos are Lagosians. They are Lagosians whether ethnic jingoists like Femi Fani-Kayode like it or not. The Lagos branch of the old Action Congress of Nigeria acknowledged that no less than 45% of the population of Lagos is Igbo.
That is a fact that cannot be ignored or simply wished-away. It is not improbable that, in a few years time, the majority of people living in Lagos will be Igbos. Short of changing the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, that tells me an Igbo man can rightfully become the future Governor of Lagos State. That should give some food-for-thought to the Fani-Kayodes.
The system of government in Nigeria is modeled after that of the United States. In the U.S., Hilary Clinton is a native of Illinois. Nevertheless, in 2000 she contested for election as Senator in New York and won. She was eligible to run for the seat simply because she and her husband moved to New York and lived there for only one year. Similarly, some Ibos have been in Lagos for 50 years.
That should make them eligible to run for office. If they vote the ethnic card, as Yorubas often do, Femi Fani-Kayode might have a heart-attack. An Igbo man might conceivably become the Governor of Lagos State. That is what democracy is all about.
The growing political muscle of Igbo-Lagosians has been obscured by electoral malpractices. That cannot last forever. Sooner than later, Igbo-Lagosians will start to pull their political weight in Lagos. True indigenes of Lagos, as opposed to carpet-baggers like the Fani-Kayodes, have traditionally been open-minded about Igbos and non-indigenes. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, a Nigerian nationalist who happened to be Igbo, once won an election in Lagos, before Awolowo appealed to tribal politics to truncate it.
Grudging acknowledgement of the growing political clout of the Igbos led to the appointment of a token Igbo man, Pastor Ben Akabueze, as Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget in Lagos by Governor Babatunde Fashola; a post he has held for six years.
Femi Fani-Kayode should have gone to court to challenge that appointment. Soon, such tokenism will just not cut it. Igbo-Lagosians will demand a more proportionate share of the local political power. If they play their cards right, they will get it. Igbo-Lagosians vote in Lagos. Therefore, they can be voted for in Lagos. No constitutional amendment is required to bring this about.
Given his educational background, one would have expected Fani-Kayode to be more enlightened. A Nigerian cannot be an alien in Nigeria. An Igbo man cannot be an alien in Lagos. Igbos are not illegal aliens in Lagos. They are at home. In Nigeria, a Nigerian is entitled to live wherever he wants. If the resources of the Niger-Delta can be Nigerianised to the benefit of Yoruba-Lagosians, then Lagos cannot be the exclusive preserve of Yoruba-Lagosians.
Since Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians, then Lagos belongs to all Nigerians. During the census enumeration, some of us insisted that Igbos must stay and be counted in Lagos for that very reason. Since Igbo-Lagosians are a significant part of the local population who contribute immensely to key sectors of the economy, the national census must reflect the fact that they live and work in Lagos.
I recently visited London after a ten-year absence. What I saw was a highly cosmopolitan city with people of different nationalities, including Nigerians. London is no longer a town of the English. It is now a megalopolis in the true sense of the word. On several occasions, I overheard people speaking Yoruba in the streets of London. On one occasion, I could not resist the urge to interject, even though uninvited.
Nigerians are everywhere. On a visit in May 2013 to WashingtonD.C., United States for the Nigerian Development and Finance Forum, under the auspices of Financial Nigeria Limited, I was informed by the Deputy Ambassador of Nigeria to the United States that there are currently five million Nigerians in the U.S. There are even more Nigerians in Sudan; over eight million.
Nigerians constitute a significant percentage of the population of Cote d’Ivoire. There are more Nigerians in Equatorial Guinea than Equatorial-Guineans. There is no country on planet earth where you will not find a sizeable population of Nigerians. U.N. projections predict that Nigeria will soon be the fourth largest country in the world, surpassed by only China, India and the United States. Under such circumstances, a Nigerian like Femi Fani-Kayode should not be hankering after a small real-estate called Lagos. Nigerians must become citizens of the world.
Joseph was a Jewish slave in Egypt. Nevertheless, he rose to become the Egyptian Prime-Minister. That happened in biblical days, and not twenty-first century Egypt. More recently in 2008, Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan, became president of the United States. In 2010, John Abraham Godson, a Nigerian-born Polish citizen became a Member of Parliament in Poland. In April, 2013, Cecile Kyenge, born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, became the Minister of Integration of the Republic of Italy. Surely, Femi Fani-Kayode cannot discern these signs of the times. Especially, the new Nigeria. M.K.O. Abiola, a Yoruba man, won his famous presidential election in 1993 by relying on Hausa, Fulani, Igbo and other votes. He was not just elected by Yorubas. Yorubas did not even vote for Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. He became President by relying on northern, eastern and south-south votes. Goodluck Jonathan became president in 2011 by forging a coalition that stretched across the Niger and the Benue to all parts of Nigeria.
When Odumegwu Ojukwu died, the entire nation of Nigeria consoled the Igbos.
Collectively, we declared with one voice that the civil war is truly over. We must not allow the Femi Fani-Kayodes to turn back the clock. Next time Femi Fani-Kayode wants to tell us “the bitter truth,” he should tell us about N19.5 billion Aviation Fund mismanaged under his watch as Minister of Aviation under the Obasanjo administration. That is the bitter truth we need to hear from him right now. •Femi Aribisala, commentator on public policy and faith issues, is the fellowship coordinator of Healing Wings, a pentecostal Christian group.
There’s a compelling political trinity to Nelson Mandela: the man, the messiah and the mystique. https://usafricaonline.com/2013/07/18/mandela-95-hearty-cheers-to-his-footprints-of-greatness-by-chido-nwangwu/
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VIDEO of the CNN International broadcast/profile of USAfrica and CLASSmagazine Publisher Chido Nwangwu. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/07/29/mpa.african.media.bk.a.cnn
Eight lessons of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. By Chido Nwangwu, Publisher of USAfrica multimedia networks, Houston. https://usafricaonline.com/2009/11/01/chido-8lessons-rwanda-genocide/
—— Forthcoming 2013 book: In this engaging, uniquely insightful and first person reportage book, MANDELA & ACHEBE: Footprints of Greatness, about two global icons and towering persons of African descent whose exemplary lives
and friendship hold lessons for humanity and Africans, the author takes a measure of their works and consequence to write that Mandela and Achebe have left “footprints of greatness.” He chronicles, movingly, his 1998 reporting from the Robben Island jail room in South Africa where Mandela was held for decades through his 20 years of being close to Achebe. He moderated the 2012 Achebe Colloquium at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.”I’ll forever remember having walked inside and peeped through that historic Mandela jail cell (where he was held for most of his 27 years in unjust imprisonment) at the dreaded Robben Island, on March 27, 1998, alongside then Editor-in-chief of TIME magazine and later news chief executive of the CNN, Walter Isaacson (and others) when President Bill Clinton made his first official trip to South Africa and came to Robben Island. Come to this island of scourge and you will understand, in part, the simple greatness and towering grace of Nelson Mandela”, notes Chido Nwangwu, award-winning writer, multimedia specialist and founder of USAfricaonline.com, the first African-owned U.S-based newspaper published on the internet, in his first book; he writes movingly from his 1998 reporting from South Africa on Mandela. http://www.mandelaachebechido.com/
Margaret Thatcher, Mandela and Africa. By Chido Nwangwu, Founder & Publisher of USAfrica, and the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper published on the internet USAfricaonline.com. Click for newscast video of London-based SkyNEWS, the global, 24-hour British international tv network’s interview with USAfrica’s Publisher Chido Nwangwu on April 11, 2013 regarding this latest commentary http://youtu.be/G0fJXq_pi1c )
——–
‘POPE FRANCIS, champion for the poor and evangelistic dedication’ by Chido Nwangwu
Long Live, CHINUA ACHEBE! The Eagle on the iroko.
FULL text of this tribute-commentary at USAfricaonline.com click link https://usafricaonline.com/2013/03/22/long-live-chinua-achebe-by-chido-nwangwu/
Strong!
What’s all the brouhaha over Femi Fani-Kayode and Nd’Igbo?
By
Nnamdi Nwigwe
nwigwennamdi@yahoo.co.uk
08037024609
One is compelled to contribute to the current literary and academic exercise on the place of Nd’Igbo and Omo Yoruba in the former colony of Lagos, now grown into Lagos State.
I use the word “compelled” because, under normal circumstances, I would not have reacted to the attention-seeking author of the bunkum Femi Fani-Kayode, a spoiled brat and scion of the once famous Remi Fani-Kayode, “Fani Power” and later “Fani Powder”.
We shall come to the genesis of those epithets much later.
Suddenly, respected and respectable compatriots are wasting their time talking about an over 50-years old former Minister fluffing and flaunting feathers like a newly-hatched pea-cock.
He strained and overstretched himself in a vain attempt to be seen and recognized as an Igbo-hater or anti-Igbo.
Maybe we better take a look at the issue raised in Femi’s fist opus of pseudo-hatred for Igbo people.
That some Igbo residents in Lagos dared say they too are Lagosians, just as the Fani-Kayodes of Oshun State claim to be, punctured the bile in Femi!
He ploughed the strong terrain of history in search of a non-existent justification for his ranting against Nigeria’s most notable and ubiquitous travellers who are home to any environment.
For saying they are part owners of Lagos, Igbo people should now be hounded out of Lagos where millions of them were born and have lived for as many years as the Femi’s have been on this side of the planet.
And even longer!
Now Femi, get closer to an ambulance in case of heart attack and hear this: Lagos actually does not count among Yoruba nations.
If you challenge this, ask the Braithwaites, the Macaulays, thy Taylors and the few surviving indigenes of Lagos where they really originated from.
They would educate you that their great grand fathers came from across the seas and settled on a peninsula which they called Lagos, a word of Iberian origin meaning “Lagoon,” in Portugese.
There is no contesting the fact of Geography though that the Lagos territory is almost entirely surrounded by the Yoruba Country.
Lagos was a distinct colony of the Europeans explorers before they ventured into the interior and made contacts with the great Yaruba Kings.
In modern times, that is in the early 20th Centaury, authentic Lagosians would include a Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, who easily fused into the elitist circle of intellectuals that made Lagos tick with the Macaulays.
Poor Femi Fani-Kayode, you are a native of a great Yoruba nations, Oyo/Oshun, and I hear you are from Ile-Ife of all places! An enviable background!
You have no reason at all to feel little or threatened by the mere shadow of the Igbo person.
One recognizes your inferiority complex but that is not the fault of the enterprising Nd’Igbo who demand only to be left alone to carry on their trade and other occupations wherever they are.
Femi did you ever hear or read of the anecdote that while America’s first man on the moon Armstrong, was joyfully struggling to plant the American Star-spangled banner on the moon, he was accosted by an Igbo man who asked him “Nwokem, O’gini ka ichoro ime?” meaning “Young man, what are you trying to do?”.
I am saddened that any body bothered to reply to Femi’s ill-intentioned diatribe to provoke Nd’Igbo who were responsible for making his father relevant in early Nigerian politics by adopting him among the progressives.
A flamboyant swashbuckling brilliant lawyer, an extrovert in the mould of the T.O.S. Bensons and the Ogunsanyas, Remi Fani-Kayode won the hearts of Nd’Igbo who [nicknamed] him “Fani Power” in an adoring approximation of our beloved leader of the progressives in the United Progressives Grand Alliance, UPGA, Dr. M. I. Okpara known as “M.I. Power.”
Before the treachery and betrayal that saw Fani-Power jump ship to join the renagades, he was the youthful leader who commanded the support and admiration of the youths across the country, especially the East, home of Nd’Igbo.
Poor Remi, he lost his pet name and became “Fani Powder,” discarded and forgotten.
Those of us Igbo people who have known and associated with the authentic Yoruba Nigerians will testify that Femi Fani-Kayode is a sorry specimen and ought therefore not be a measure to assess the Yorubas.
Yoruba advancement and civilization have gone too far for people like Femi Fani-Kayode to try to rubbish a great people by seeking cheap popularity. He sought unsuccessfully to insult Nd’Igbo, an equally great race, so valuable to the Nigerian nation that it even went to war to pull them back into the fold when they opted for a defensive disengagement from them to found Biafra. Where was Femi Fani-Kayode then?
Sure he did it as expected. The Igbo will always remain a tribe Fani Kayode would have loved to be highly associated with,but unfortunately we do not accept monsters within Us..
Hmmmmmm!!!!! If this loud mouth Femi fani Kayode had know, he would have shut his trap called mouth. Now this trap has caught him.
After my first 2 minutes with Nnamdi Nwigwe in Owerri, I was sure I had meet a master essayist and social critic par excellence
What’s all the brouhaha over Femi Fani-Kayode and Nd’Igbo?
By
Nnamdi Nwigwe
nwigwennamdi@yahoo.co.uk
08037024609
One is compelled to contribute to the current literary and academic exercise on the place of Nd’Igbo and Omo Yoruba in the former colony of Lagos, now grown into Lagos State.
I use the word “compelled” because, under normal circumstances, I would not have reacted to the attention-seeking author of the bunkum Femi Fani-Kayode, a spoiled brat and scion of the once famous Remi Fani-Kayode, “Fani Power” and later “Fani Power”.
We shall come to the genesis of those epithets much later.
Suddenly, respected and respectable compatriots are wasting their time talking about an over 50-years old former Minister fluffing and flaunting feathers like a newly-hatched pea-cock.
He strained and overstretched himself in a vain attempt to be seen and recognized as an Igbo-hater or anti-Igbo.
Maybe we better take a look at the issue raised in Femi’s fist opus of pseudo-hatred for Igbo people.
That some Igbo residents in Lagos dared say they too are Lagosians, just as the Fani-Kayodes of Oshun State claim to be, punctured the bile in Femi!
He ploughed the strong terrain of history in search of a non-existent justification for his ranting against Nigeria’s most notable and ubiquitous travellers who are home to any environment.
For saying they are part owners of Lagos, Igbo people should now be hounded out of Lagos where millions of them were born and have lived for as many years as the Femi’s have being on this side of the planet.
And even longer!
Now Femi, get closer to an ambulance in case of heart attack and hear this: Lagos actually does not count among Yoruba nations.
If you challenge this, ask the Braithwaites, the Macaulays, the Taylors and the few surviving indigenes of Lagos where they really originated from.
They would educate you that their great grand fathers came from across the seas and settled on a peninsula which they called Lagos, a word of Iberian origin meaning “Lagoon,” in Portugese.
There is no contesting the fact of Geography though that the Lagos territory is almost entirely surrounded by the Yoruba Country.
Lagos was a distinct colony of the Europeans explorers before they ventured into the interior and made contacts with the great Yoruba Kings.
In modern times, that is in the early 20th Centaury, authentic Lagosians would include a Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, who easily fused into the elitist circle of intellectuals that made Lagos tick with the Macaulays.
Poor Femi Fani-Kayode, you are a native of a great Yoruba nations, Oyo/Oshun, and I hear you are from Ile-Ife of all places! An enviable background!
You have no reason at all to feel little or threatened by the mere shadow of the Igbo person.
One recognizes your inferiority complex but that is not the fault of the enterprising Nd’Igbo who demand only to be left alone to carry on their trade and other occupations wherever they are.
Femi did you ever hear or read of the anecdote that while America’s first man on the moon Armstrong, was joyfully struggling to plant the American Star-spangled Banner on the moon, he was accosted by an Igbo man who asked him “Nwokem, O’gini ka ichoro ime?” meaning “Young man, what are you trying to do?”.
I am saddened that any body bothered to reply to Femi’s ill-intentioned diatribe to provoke Nd’Igbo who were responsible for making his father relevant in early Nigerian politics by adopting him among the progressives.
A flamboyant swashbuckling brilliant lawyer, an extrovert in the mould of the T.O.S. Bensons and the Ogunsanyas, Remi Fani-Kayode won the hearts of Nd’Igbo who daubed him “Fani Power” in an adoring approximation of our beloved leader of the progressives in the United Progressives Grand Alliance, UPGA, Dr. M. I. Okpara known as “M.I. Power”.
Before the treachery and betrayal that saw Fani-Power jump ship to join the renagades, he was the youthful leader who commanded the support and admiration of the youths across the country, especially the East, home of Nd’Igbo.
Poor Remi, he lost his pet name and became “Fani Powder,” discarded and forgotten.
Those of us Igbo people who have known and associated with the authentic Yoruba Nigerians will testify that Femi Fani-Kayode is a sorry specimen and ought therefore not be a measure to assess the Yorubas.
A mighty honour is being unmeritoriously accorded him by replying to his effusions.
Yoruba advancement and civilization have gone too far for people like Femi Fani-Kayode to try to rubbish a great people by seeking cheap popularity. He sought unsuccessfully to insult Nd’Igbo, an equally great race, so valuable to the Nigerian nation that it even went to war to pull them back into the fold when they opted for a defensive disengagement from them to found Biafra. Where was Femi Fani-Kayode then?
Nigerian Leaders of all civic and political persuasions must learn to be instruments of Unity, and Peace and Progress.
Our Partisan, Regional, Tribal and Class Views and Impulses should be guarded and tempered down for the public good –the good of all!
We are sliding, almost without noticing, into superstition and darkness.
We often let fear and suspicion overrule reason and when such ignorance drives public policy, our economic and social well-being and development are put at risk.
Are we now allowing irrationality and superstition to shape our societies?
What is a sociopath? Diagnostically speaking, it is someone who possesses a mixture of the following characteristics: charm, grandiosity, bloodless rationality, impulsivity, an appetite for risk, an erratic sex-life and little capacity for remorse. As it turns out, high-functioning sociopaths are everywhere and Femi Fani-Kayode is one of them.
It is for the sake of Nigerians like Aribisala that I detest generalization in public comments on sensitive issues. Intelligent comments based on verifiable fact as posted by Aribisala will always be more beneficial to all concerned than emotional outbursts.
It is for the sake of Yoruba Nigerians like Aribisala
Femi Fani-Kayode is one of the few great men left in this nation ,who served his people in the fear of God.He not only saved lifes by stopping the crushes ,but he also kept a clean account of the N19 billion .And not a kobo was missing when the records were submitted .EFCC had to drop that charge and they did years ago.The man loves his people and his country,he can not sit by and let others lie about his homeland.This is not hate,even God said my people and my land when it came to the Jews.Others must show a little respect to host of after they have been welcomed,and not say such hurtful things like we now own your land.
Mr Femi Aribisala,the God that gave the Israel
Food for thought… Sir I need to sit under your tutelage.. I usually don't read articles like this but I was impelled to read this because I saw so many sense in this article.. we should not divide Nigeria, Nigeria is for Nigerians rather we should all pray for the peace of Nigerians in the north.
The best article I've ever read from a Nigerian.
Has punch newspaper published this?
It's a wise saying that those who live in a glass house should not throw stones. Unfortunately, most of us are not wise. If not, how can a public servant accused of willful embezzlement and fraudulent conversion of public funds and self enrichment have the audacity and impunity to talk about a major tribe in Nigeria in that manner.
Our country is being gradually destroyed by those who wantonly loot our public funds with impunity and in turn use the said funds to disrupt the system and manifestly abuse us citizenry.
And until we the people begin to stand up for our right, shun this primitive accumulation and conversion of our public funds and hold our leaders accountable for their actions, our country shall remain largely undeveloped with overwhelming majority of its people living in abject poverty.
Man, this Aribisala is something else. Every Nigerian should take a cue from him
What can I say-the writer is truly an embodiment of "one nigeria".
A lot of lessons to learn from this article, FFK must read this.