Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper published on the internet.
On Thursday September 16, 2021, two prominent politicians defected from their political parties in Nigeria.
While one left a party that has failed its people woefully, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the other left the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to return to the same APC. One is a journalist, Senator Shehu Sani, who uses every chance he gets to criticize the ruling APC, his own party.
On the other hand, Femi Fani-Kayode [FFK] also criticizes the same APC whenever he gets a chance, but this has been his trade in stock for so many years now.
Lest we forget, Femi Fani-Kayode has been constantly in the news since Buhari became president. We won’t bother going into details on what he said about Buhari, but we want you to take a look at a few headlines he made:
1. I would rather die than join APC – December 15, 2019
2. We will expose the real Buhari -January 7, 2015
3. I am ashamed Kumuyi could shake and smile with a tyrant like Buhari – October 3, 2018
4. DSS vs IPOB: Stop this madness – Fani-Kayode attacks Buhari govt over Enugu clash, August 24, 2020.
As has been made abundantly clear by his defection, Fani-Kayode is a very, very shameless man. This is a man who has no iota of honor or self-respect. He counts among the worst of all men.
He claims he was directed by God to join APC, and that he joined for national unity.
When Channels Television asked if he decamped from PDP again to APC because of [his feeding, lifestyle and material interests], he said: “I find that very insulting whether it is coming from you or my critics, I am not the first person that would decamp to the APC, have you asked others this same question? If you ask all politicians this question, you will get the same answer; nobody knows tomorrow. I have my values and I will continue to work towards that.”
To try to understand the man and his antecedents, let me cite an Edo proverb which asks, can a duck give birth to a monkey?
Femi is one of the younger sons of the late Remi Fani-Kayode. Remi Fani-Kayode was the Deputy Premier of the western region. [Back then in the 1960s in that region, the political party in government was] the Action Group, Obafemi Awolowo’s party.
Awolowo chose to relinquish the premiership of the region so that he can contest and be the Prime Minister of Nigeria at independence in 1960. He made his deputy, SL Akintola the premier of the region. Fani-Kayode’s father, also known as ‘Fani Power’ was the deputy to SL Akintola. Akintola and his associates then “sold” the Action Group to the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) of Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa.
As a result of that, NPC took over the western region and declared a state of emergency after the elections of 1963, 1964.
The region’s election was won by Awolowo’s party, Action Group, but the party that was hurriedly formed by SL Akintola and Femi’s father (in order to form an alliance with NPC) was declared the winners.
Femi’s father was reported to have said that Awolowo’s Action Group might have won the election, but they will not be sworn in. Although, [their alliance] lost the election, the were sworn in [as winners]; like what happened with Hope Uzodinma [in Imo State when the Supreme Court of Nigeria declared him Governor on January 14, 2020]. The Yoruba people went on a rampage, and for almost 2 years, they were burning their western region. They called it ‘Operation Wetie’, meaning, operation wet it or wet them. So they were wetting people with petrol and setting them ablaze. Anyone supporting FFK’s father was all set ablaze in Ibadan, Akure, Ondo, Abeokuta. Lagos was not part of western Nigeria then, but was known as the Lagos capital territory.
The BBC did a documentary and called it the Wild, wild West, to represent western Nigeria.
The Minister for Lagos then was Alhaji Musa Yar’adua, the father of Shehu Musa Yar’adua and Umaru Musa Yar’adua. So, that went on from 1964 to 1965, so early morning of the second week of January 1966, after almost two years of war in the western region, Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu to overthrow the government. In fact, as a result of what happened then, the western region was shut out, and that was what led to the direct intervention of the military and those people were chased out of power.
On the issue of those who question whether FFK is a political party prostitute – 3rd time in APC, 4th in PDP – I believe that since Femi came back to Nigeria from the UK after his studies, although he has had opportunities, he’s been problematic. He was a minister as a young man, after being a special adviser to Obasanjo. He was thrown out by Obasanjo, but later came back to join Goodluck Jonathan, then he left and went to join Tinubu to form APC. Then he became the person fighting Jonathan. He was the one that used the word ‘clueless’ for Jonathan. When they refused to give him the position he wanted in APC, he came back to PDP to join Jonathan towards the end of Jonathan’s tenure, and together with Doyin Okupe, he became the Presidential spokesman.
He was the one in charge of most of the campaign for Jonathan. He was in PDP, went to ACN, went to APC, helped to form APC with Amaechi and Co. He left and joined PDP and came back again, then left for PDP. This is his third missionary journey to APC, and fourth time in PDP. He is the one that has been fighting Buhari, calling him all kind of names. In fact, he was the first person to go and visit Nnamdi Kanu, he has, in about four different occasions sworn never to go to APC. I have the videos. In one of them, he said he would rather die. I think it’s time for him to die.
While it’s expected that fellow APC members would welcome him with open arms into the party, even they are shocked that he would once again, give up his dignity as a human being and lick…
The recently defected PDP Governor of Ebonyi State, Engineer Dave Umahi described FFK as a liar for telling Nigeria’s President Buhari (of the APC) that he (FFK) was part of those who negotiated for him (Umahi) to join APC.
Umahi has responded: “How would somebody in the PDP be instrumental to my moving? A whole governor of the State. Not even a small governor, an experienced governor. He has to withdraw the statement. He was never part of any discussion of my movement. I moved South-East to the centre of administration. I moved to close the gap between the centre and South-East, which our forefathers like Nnamdi Azikiwe fought for. So for somebody to come and say that a whole chairman of South-East Governors Forum, he was instrumental to that, was an insult to my person and with all due respect, he has to withdraw the statement.”
Sheik Gumi, who 
seems to have turned himself into a spokesman for the bandits and terrorists of the country Nigeria was also shocked by the defection move of Femi Fani-Kayode. He lambasted him almost immediately: “I have for long, neglected the rantings of the Judas of Oduduwa attacking me knowing fully well that he is fake and a traitor. Time has now caught up with him and thanks to Allah, all his vituperations are cast in the dustbin of merciless history. It is him now, one wonders which of the seven circles of hell this duper will settle if he doesn’t repent.”
I believe that a man who is not founded in honor is hollow and empty. Not recognizing the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari and his regime, not recognizing kidnapping and insecurity, and Boko Haram terrorism actions in the North, East, West [and the Middlebelt of Nigeria], I have come to the conclusion that Femi Fani-Kayode is completely finished.
-Eholor is the President of the human rights advocacy group in Nigeria, One Love Foundation.
