By Bala Ibrahim
It is no longer news that chief Femi Fani Kayode, the erstwhile renowned ragtag for rubbishing the APC as a party, and Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s President and the leader of the party has joined the party. What would be news is the appalling reactions that would continue filling the airspace, as regards the reasons of the party to accept with applause, the coming of a man that has been extremely hostile to everything the party and the people therein stand for.
In breaking the news of his defection, which was blessed by a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari at the villa, a presidential aide, Tolu Ogunlesi, posted on Facebook thus, “Today at the State House, Abuja: Somebody has come and joined the APC. And a large-hearted and magnanimous President received him. Because that’s the essential Buhari for you.”
Many supporters of the party and the President felt, and are still feeling sad, including yours truly. Femi Fani Kayode had made fierce and public insults on President Muhammadu Buhari almost a passion, which he pursued with deadly desire.Femi is the first and the only person in history, to refer to Buhari as corrupt.
Sometimes early last year, Femi Fani Kayode wrote an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, and ensured that the letter was given maximum publicity in and outside Nigeria.
As usual, he started the letter with insults, thus:“You will forgive me because this is a long letter and I am fully aware that your attention span or ability to retain too much information in one fell swoop may not be as good as it used to be.
After blaming the President for everything bad in Nigeria, he categorically called him a Boko Haram. “The only reason the Boko Haram terrorists are having a field day is because we have a President and a Commander in Chief who shares the same ideology as the terrorists and as a result prefers pandering to them as opposed to fighting them. In fact a betting man would bet that the only difference between the Boko Haram terrorists killing, maiming and beheading Nigerians in the Northeast and our President and Commander-In-Chief is in their name and location. One is named “Boko Haram” and operates from the bush while the other one is named “Muhammadu Buhari” and operates from Aso Rock. If we were to remove the cloak of fear of detention by state oppressive forces, we would all admit they are both pursuing the same goal and doing a very good job of it. You that is reading this, you know this is exactly what is happening even if you may not want to publicly say it for whatever reason”.
Without shame and remorse, after being received by the same Buhari, fallacious Femi said, to the waiting press that the spirit of God led him to taking the decision to join the APC. And that he would be assisting to build unity in Nigeria. How?
Nothing can be more worrisome for the party and the President that want to leave behind a good legacy of political sanity.
Undoubtedly His Excellency Mai Mala Buni has done tremendously well for the Party since coming on board as the Chairman, Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, but I don’t want to record the coming of Femi Fani Kayode to the party as a credit worthy of mention by him. It is a baggage of liability.
The question to ask even is the value of Femi to the APC. He is not a known puller of crowds or one associated with the command of respect from any quarters. In fact to the contrary, Femi’s attitude and utterances are known to be repulsive and disgustful to most people, especially the people of propriety.
Depending on the rating of the level at which someone is valued, he or she can be courted, or even purchased for a fee, and be put forward in the chess game. But Femi has nothing to qualify him as a man with such credibility.
The question on the minds of many is what purpose is he expected to play, in a manner that would add value to the CV of the APC as a party? There is nothing to point at, except if the party is planning to venture into gutter politics.
Femi is described differently by different people, including his former boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who once said, “Femi Fani Kayode is my boy. He is like a dog, provide him food, he will eat and then sing for you”.
According to Mogaji Wole Arisekola, Femi is simply on a mission. “They are going to use him to fight Asiwaju. It’s all about 2023. Very soon, he will be a leading voice against Tinubu’s ambition. Not only him, some of us were also contacted. But because of our family name and orientation, we decided to stay away from their demonic plan. When Fani-Kayode was in the EFCC’s net, Asiwaju directed one of his boys to bail him out. I think the guy’s documents are still with EFCC. Just wait and see, then, thank me later”.
Those engaged in political prostitution would tell you, in politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies, but permanent interest. However, with people like Femi Fani Kayode, methinks the hausa man would simply say, “A d’auri kashi ko a b’ata igiya? Meaning, you would only soil or sully the rope, by using it to tie or fetch the feces.
