The late sage - Obafemi Awolowo once said... (I am paraphrasing ) 'when people are involved in a discourse, the intelligent ones endeavour to marshall out their points facts for facts logically, while the not so intelligent ones fall back to high sounding and vacuous words... mostly, attacking the character of their oppenents'.
It has become the pattern as typical of the publicists attached to the presidency to attack even though unwarrated, anyone who chooses to differ from that office in any national issue.
Alex Akinyele and Walter Ofornagoro resorted to name-calling and branding of differing opinions then as unpatriotic elements.
Comrade Uche Chukwumerije tried albeit unsuccessfully to clean the Augean Stable for president Ibrahim Babaginda during the June 12 imbroglio before the latter infamously 'stepped-aside'.
Then came Wada nas for Abacha. He made Abacha to believe that Nigerians are happy and want him (Abacha) to be president for life. Anyone who dare to voice out a different opinion, was not only branded as unpatriotic, but was seen as a felon- who is plotting to topple the government.
Now, we have Femi Fani-kayode. A relatively unknown lawyer- whose only qualification for the appointment of Special Assistant to the Very Special assistant- who is also assisting another is being the son of a politician and former deputy premier of the old Western region- Remi Fani-kayode. Whether the president has given the Herculean task of cleaning his Augean Stable to Femi Fani-kayode, Nigerians don't know. But, what we do know is that this Femi Fani-kayode, is rude and he is going to destroy whatever image is left of Obasanjo's regime, if he is not remove from assisting the special assistant.
Recently, Femi fani-Kayode added Prof. Wole Soyinka to his list of those who are not qualified to voice out their opinion on national issues or criticise his boss.
He said..." I think we have already given Prof. Soyinka far more attention than he deserves...We have absolutely no further comment about him and we have nothing more to say to him. "Whoever he spends his time insulting for his own personal and self-serving reasons, is his own business...At this stage in the life of our nation, constructive criticisms and meaningful contributions are what are needed and not the expression of bitter, retrograde and self-serving commentaries. In any case, it is always very difficult to reason, debate or have any form of meaningful discussion or dialogue with
any person that does not believe in God. The truth is that regardless of what people like Soyinka would have you believe, God is blessing Nigeria and our belief is that He will continue to do so...."
This same Femi fani-kayode five years ago, never saw anything good with Obasanjo's government and he wrote in the Comet Newspaper, March 18, 2001, titled "Obasanjo May End in Utter Disaster and Shame" in which, amongst many things, he derided Obasanjo for his messianic pretensions. Hear him:
"Again, the truth is that nothing has happened today that has encouraged those of us that share this view (the quest for a Sovereign National Conference ) to have cause to change our minds: economic conditions in the Nigeria of today are far worse than they were 22 (twenty-two) months ago," Fani-Kayode wrote.
"Can anyone disagree with the brilliant Ajose Adeogun when he recently said ‘this country is on its knees and in a state of crisis and yet the President is busy junketing all over the world?’ In places like Apapa and Ikeja today (which are both primary industrial areas) the Federal Government cannot even supply more than three to four hours of electric power per day. The President now seems to be gradually relapsing to his old, pre-1995 dictatorial self and there can be little doubt that the man suffers from what the British would describe as a ‘debilitating character flaw’".
"Again it is clear that Mr President feels unduly threatened by everyone and anyone. He does not listen. He does not care and he appears to growl with a deep and dissembling rage whenever anyone looks at things from a different perspective to his own. He finds it difficult to tolerate any form of criticism (even where such is constructive) and he has cultivated an obvious and relentless contempt for intellectual discourse. Again he has absolute disdain and contempt for those of us that contribute to public debate and intellectual discourse and that spend some of our time writing books or publishing articles. For people like Mr President the influencing of public opinion through the auspices of the print media does not matter and neither does public opinion itself count for anything ... Mr President's attitude is further worsened and compounded by the fact that he, for some reason or other, actually sees himself as not only an intellectual but also as a ‘messiah’. He believes that he has all the answers. He believes that he can never be wrong."
The questions most Nigerians are asking are... have things changed so drastically now that F.F.Kayode sees president Obasanjo as the messiah...? Does Obasanjo now listen to constructive criticism(without him-Kayode interferring)?
Do public opinion now matter to the presidency... or why is F.F.Kayode now playing the role of voltron- 'the defender of Obasanjo's administration?
We can go on and on asking questions about the character of this young man called Femi Fani-Kayode. However, we would like to leave him to history- the ultimate chronicler of events to place him in that particular spot where he actually belongs.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Femi Fani-kayode, is the Chukwumerije and Wada Nas of Obasanjo...
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7 comments:
what i don't really understand about this Fani kayode guy is that,when ever he opens his basket mouth, he doles out unpalatable and unsavoury comments to elders old enough to be his fada and sometimes his grandfada.ki lo se omo le ye?
Fani-kayode is a good boy; he does his job really well. He needs to remember, however, that OBJ won't be there forever.
thanks for pointing out the hypocrisy or mr fani-kayode. its a shame that the corridors of nigeria's power-houses are populated by such shallow individuals....
what has soyinka's religion got to do with his constitutional right to criticise his country's leaders?
I heard Chief FF Kayode speaking today on the BBC about Charles Taylor. In light of the mediocrity and incompetence of most American official spokespeople, I am always shocked by the cleverness and colorfulness of West African officials. Kayode is one of the most articulate and interesting politicians I've ever heard. At least you aren't cursed with boring or stupid government, like our Bush and Co.
hmmn it seems like ransome has been smoking some of the same drugs that femi is on back when I knew him not so long ago. The same Femi whose father sent numerous times to drug rehab and was such a druggie we never paid attention to what he said. Apparently having the right connections can buy you a whole new identity...welll good for you Femi but go easy on the drugs cos sometimes you go a tad bit too far.
I read today in the Nigeria Guardian Newspaper that our controversial friend, Femi Fani-Kayode has now been approved by the senate as minister. What a shame.
This is not after a serious screening session with concerns raised about his attitude for unguarded comments. The paper reports that in his defense, he admitted that he realises that he must have offended some people in the course of playing his role as OBJ's "armour-bearer" BUT that he is very sorry and he should be forgiven.
What surprises me is that taking into consideration his " I can't give a damn" attitude displayed in the past, something can actually drive Femi to his knees. The position at stake must be so juicy that he didn't mind compromising on his stand and former posture. It again shows that afterall, he is just like any other Nigerian public officer who can easily compromise his values if the issue at stake involves some heavy financial gains. And as usual, such will be so quick to put on the name of the Lord speaking "Christianies" to justify their ungodly actions. I even read in the same article that one of the senators stood in the his defense quoting some parts of the Quoran on the need extend forgiveness to a repentant person.
That his true, BUT my concern is that what this means is that anyone can deliberately do and undo and when the stakes are up, he displays some kind of repentant attitude putting on the name of the Lord just to have his way and manipulate gullible Nigerians, the same approach some of our present leaders used to get back to power after parading themselves as "born-again" Christians which resulted to reputable men of God rallying round them at that time.
UM! it also shows that with some past leaders who are seeking for how to come back to power, all they need to do is to put on the name of the Lord, then the majority of Nigerians will be fooled once again.
Lord, we need a Jehu that You will use to cleanse this land of corruption. Let it happen soon Lord, that the old Nigeria and her adulterous ways will die and there will be the birth of a New Nigeria, a place where righteousness will reign, where there will be justice, where the Church of Jesus will be a truth light and not a whited sepulchre.
In Jesus' precious Name, Amen.
WHAT ELSE CAN WE SAY ABOUT FEMI FANI-KAYODE?EX THIS EX THAT.THE LIST GOES ON AND ON...EX DRUGGIE,JOBLESS LAWYER,PASTOR(?!)(EVEN HIS FRIENDS WILL LAUGH AT THAT!).I'M SORRY FOR THE TYPISTS IN HIS MINISTRY...I WONDER HOW MANY...HE WOULD LEAVE BEHIND.
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