Femi Fani-Kayode
At a time when the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) was inviting Nigerians to join the party in the course of its ongoing membership registration, Femi Fani-Kayode had a meeting with the party leaders- Gov. Mai Buni of Yobe State, Chairman APC National Caretaker Commiittee, and Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi State. After the meeting, the Kogi State governor declared that “Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has joined our party in good faith.”
“He (Femi Fani Kayode) is joining our party to add his own positive energy and make contributions to ensuring that APC is the party to beat.
“Remember Femi Fani-Kayode was a foundation member of this great party. Due to misunderstanding, he decided to port elsewhere. Now he has decided to rejoin our party.
“He approached me and by the mandate given to me by the party, I must not segregate. I must not discriminate against any individual.”
Since his visit to the leaders of the APC, the political and media space is rife with speculations that Kayode has turned his back on the PDP and has concluded plans to defect to the APC. But most leaders within his “new” party are not giving him any audience. According to Buhari’s media aide, Bashir Ahmad, “If he decides to join the governing party, I don’t think he will be welcomed by majority of the party members.”
A man can define many things beautifully in his life, but his character is one thing that can define him instantly and completely. Femi Fani- Kayode’s attempt to move to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) has met a brick wall. Many party leaders within APC have pushed for the rejection of his planned membership. A strong reason against his acceptance into the APC is his past misdeeds against the party, lack of values and principles, as well as his disrespect for common ethics.
This is why the Director General of the Progressive Governor’s Forum (PGF), Salihu Moh. Lukman described the rejection of Fani-Kayode by members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from defecting to the party as an attestation of the strong internal democratic culture of the party.
In a statement titled “APC, and the Question of Values” released in Abuja on Friday, Lukman said the fact that members were able to reject Fani-Kayode’s attempt to join the party meant that APC has values.
Nigerians have equally expressed shock that Femi Fani Kayode, who has always berated the APC-led government has suddenly (in the words of Bello), “seen the light and the need to join the All Progressive Congress”.
This is someone who has made several scathing comments about the present administration. He has embarked on this mission since 2015 that ushered in the new government that replaced the PDP, and has equally made it ungovernable. He carefully plotted many schemes to bumfuzzle the house of the APC. Few years ago, he accused the national leader of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu that he nominated Osinbajo as vice presidential candidate as “plans to come to power through through the back door.” His exact words were “Tinubu, according to our information, has compelled Osinbajo to swear to an oath that after six months in office, he would resign as the vice president, in the unlikely event that their party wins.
“The wicked plot, as laid out by them, is to force Osinbajo to resign for Tinubu to be nominated by Buhari as his replacement.”
He didn’t just stop there as he undertook several politically motivated activisms, tormenting the government from social media where hypocrisy, falseness, double standards and rumours converge. He fired massively at the presidency and the APC-led government. According to Buhari’s media aide, Bashir Ahmad, “he made it a duty to attack and insult everything and everyone in the party and government for several years.”
In line with his usual double-speak, Fani-Kayode put out a statement to make it appear as though it was never about his joining the APC. In his words, “we discussed the state of the nation, national issues, party politics and the way forward.” But when politicians embark on such visits it is for purposes around themselves contrary to what they make appear.
Despite the fact that Fani-Kayode insisted that all that he had in mind was bridge-building and finding solutions to the nation’s security issues, many have reasoned that he was in fact one of the reasons why the country was walking on the path of a second civil war as he claimed.
This is because where he ought to have exercised restraint, he didn’t, as evident in his comments and writings on the last EndSARS protest and the current Fulani Herdsmen crisis in Oyo State. This is one of the reasons the Director General of the Progressive Governor’s Forum PGF, Salihu Moh. Lukman, expressed strong dissatisfaction when he learnt that APC leaders received him:
“For our leaders to associate themselves with Mr Fani-Kayode, is simply rewarding scandalous behaviour. Mr Fani-Kayode has fabricated stories, distorted, insulted the party and has consistently written and distributed damaging information about our party and our leaders. The elementary rule of decency would require some good distance between our leaders and such a person.
“Not even the Ward leaders where he is located should be associated with him except for reasons of family ties.”
“On no account should anyone with the kind of baggage of Mr Fani-Kayode be invited to join the party without clearance from a statutory structure of the party. In this particular instance, the National Caucus should be the clearing house”, the PGF boss stated.
It is said that an unsteady and unstable personality is a dangerous character. Fani- Kayode, is not just unpredictable, his temperament is quite ungovernable . While he was in the APC, the former Minister of Aviation described the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, as a sad testimony of everything that is wrong with the country in 2015. He admitted to being partly responsible for the failure of the PDP having been part of putting the party in leadership position, a situation which he says explains why he, along with other former members are bent on righting their wrongs and seeing to it that they are removed from office. In spite of all what he said, he returned to the PDP and has since carried out what the Director General of PGF describes as scandalous behaviours towards the APC.
We have seen quite a number of similar “interesting” personalities in Nigeria’s political space. There are the fainters; those who are versed in the theatrics of creating a scenerio of illhealth when they are probed for financial crimes. There are equally those whose proclivity for decamping is unmatched. Politicians in this category are always ready to defect to any party. Their loyalty is determined by the political weather. Today they are on the ruling side. Tomorrow they are with the opposition. This category of people fortify William Clay’s position that “in politics, there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests.”
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For Fani-Kayode, his fluctuating disposition makes him quite an interesting character to understudy. His recent plan to decamp to the APC, though alleged, is a clear indication that he never really had the interest of the Nigerians at heart, contrary to what his numerous activisms made him appear. It appears he has always pursued his own interests.
In the words of American model, Marilyn Monroe, if you’re going to be two-faced, at least make one of them pretty. With the APC and the PDP, Fani-Kayode clearly hasn’t made any pretty. It leaves one to ponder what manner of an activist is he after all.
