Femi Fani-Kayode makes conceit solemn. He is
the sui generis of narcissism. His arrogance
dovetails with his foul temper and cutting
tongue. There is no shade of modesty,
temperance and grace in the son of Remilekun
Fani-Kayode (Fani Power).The mealy-mouthed
politician takes the “H” in hubris. He is the
undisputed crown prince of double-speak.
I watched the video of where Fani-Kayode gave a
dressing-down to a journalist who asked him an
innocuous question which “the Almighty” found
irritating and pesky, “Who is bankrolling your
tour?” That was it! Femi emptied the content of
his pugnacious buccal cavity on the journalist.
He called him stupid and expended minutes
chopping the reporter to insignificant bits.
Femi said he had a ‘’short fuse’’ and asked the
reporter to size him up because – ‘’…I am a
former minister, lawyer…. Who do you think you
are talking to?’’
Femi’s diatribe: “Do you know who you are
talking to? What type of insulting question is
that? Which bankroll, to do what? Who can give
me money for anything? Who do you think you
are talking to? Go and report yourself to your
publisher. I could see from your face before you
got here, how stupid you are. Don’t ever talk to
me like that. Who do you think you’re talking to?
Bankroll who? You think I am one of those ones
you… from who, when, how? You have a small
mind, very small mind.”
“Who is bankrolling your tour?’’ The non-toxic
question that bled Femi’s poison. Femi is not a
disguisable character for integrity. He is
notorious in political circles as a mercenary who
can serve anyone and any purpose as long as his
belly gets filled. His former boss, Olusegun
Obasanjo, whom he turned against after
Goodluck Jonathan picked him up to wait at the
table, put a stamp of affirmation on Femi’s
devious constitution.
Obasanjo once said: “Femi is my boy. If you give
him food, he will sing for you?’’
Femi was vicious on former president Jonathan
– not until he was appointed to be the
spokesman of the re-election campaign of the
former president. But he spoke Jonathan to
defeat in 2015.
Recently, Femi embarked on a PR tour of PDP
states. He travelled to Zamfara where the
governor treated him to the niceties of princes.
The former minister who is a known adversary of
the north – as his writings and public statements
show – geared into duplicity afterwards untamed
by his pursuit of pleasures.
He once put the trouble with Nigeria on the
pouch of the Igbo. In his article of August 2013,
‘’The bitter truth about the Igbo’’, Femi wrote of
his intimate congress with the wife of the late
Odumegwu Ojukwu — an extraneous piece of
information that he divulged to spite the Igbo.
He did not camouflage his bigotry and hate for
the Igbo. But he started cantillating different
when the Buhari administration came to power.
He needed alliances from the south-east to
confront the ‘’northern government’’ which pulled
him to court on allegations of corruption. He
became an abetting voice, albeit hypocritical,
against the perceived grievances of the region.
Not that he really cared about Ndi Igbo, but in
President Muhammadu Buhari, Femi and a few
Igbo politicians displaced from the dining table,
found a common enemy.
Femi lives only for himself. He is vacant of
character and principles. He stands for nothing
and falls for everything as long as he gets fed. It
is in this context that the question (who is
bankrolling your tour?) of the journalist to Femi,
should be situated. Why was he so incensed by
the question? He could have simply torpedoed
whatever the insinuations on the tour are with an
intelligent and polite answer. Perhaps, he felt he
was being ratted out? His outburst busts his
pretensions.
Femi is critical of anyone who does not favour
him, and his approach to opposition is both
savage and irrational. He once called Buhari “an
evil tyrant”. But it is clear; the politician would
have been a more ruthless tyrant if was sitting on
the throne. He pleasures himself insulting other
people, but he brooks no opposition. He can
throw blows, but cannot take them. That is the
making of an aboriginal tyrant.
However, Nigerian journalists must redeem
themselves from the curse of “brown envelopes”.
Journalism is a noble profession, deserving of
respect. Some journalists act like peasants
before politicians for crumbs. So, naturally, they
cannot stand up to them. But what is journalism
when journalists are afraid of asking critical
questions? We have to redeem ourselves. The
profession is fast losing dignity and appeal.
