How Fani-Kayode won Obasanjo’s heart and fought against Abacha

Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode who has recently been seen speaking ill about his boss, Olusegun Obasanjo was once an ally of the former president of Nigeria.

In 1991, during the General Sani Abacha’s military junta as head of state, Fani-Kayode left Nigeria and joined the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) abroad where, together with the likes of the Oxford University-trained lawyer Chief Tunde Edu and others, he played a very active role in the fight against Abacha.

He later returned to Nigeria in 2001 and met President Olusegun Obasanjo. At the beginning of 2003, Femi Fani-Kayode was appointed by the President as a member of his presidential campaign team for the 2003 presidential election.

After President Obasanjo won that election, Femi Fani-Kayode was appointed as the first ever Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In 2006, he was appointed as the Honorable Minister of Culture and Tourism. That same year, after a minor cabinet reshuffle, he was redeployed to the Aviation Ministry as the Honourable Minister of Aviation.

As Obasanjo’s tenure concluded on May 29, 2007, Fani-Kayode went back to the private sector and his legal practice.

However, since Fani-Kayode defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, he has been seen on multiple occasions speaking against Obasanjo and his choice of leaders.

During the 2023 presidential election, after Obasanjo announced Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party as his preferred candidate, FFK took a swipe at the former head of state.

He also spoke about Obasanjo’s father being allegedly Igbo and not Yoruba as many believe following his silence over Iwuanyanwu’s anti-Yoruba comments.

Taking to his Twitter handle, Fani-Kayode wrote: “The fact that our revered leader and one of the fathers of our nation, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, can sit there and say nothing when Emmanuel Iwanyanwu, who I have always respected, describes the entire Yoruba race as “rascals” that the Igbo “will DEAL with” tells me that the rumour that he is NOT a fully-fledged Yoruba man and that his father was an Igbo may well be true.

Despite the differences in political parties and their presidential candidates preference, Fani-Kayode was seen few months ago at Obasanjo’s book presentation ‘The Letterman’, where he praised him and described him as one of the greatest Nigerian leaders that have sacrificed so much for unity and progress of the country.

He said; “This man will never compromise on the integrity of this country, he will never back down.”

BS