Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has questioned the Yorubaness of former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, saying his father may be Igbo.
The embattled Fani-Kayode, who faces a possible British visa ban, over alleged hate speech against the Igbos during the elections, alleged this while reacting to what he described as Obasanjo’s ‘silence’ over a recent comment by wealthy Igbo businessman Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, which was twisted by those fanning the embers of disunity that he referred to Yoruba people are “political rascals.
Actually, Chief Iwuanyanwu was talking about those who unleashed and encouraged violence against the Igbos in Lagos before, during and after the elections.
Iwuanyanwu, speaking in Awka, Anambra State, on Saturday, warned that further attacks on Igbos in Lagos or anywhere would no longer be tolerated.
According to him, Igbo people have invested so much in Nigeria and “we are going nowhere.”
However, Fani-Kayode said he was disappointed that Obasanjo was silent over Iwuanyanwu’s comment, twisted by those seeking to divide Nigerians as 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.
“Whatever the case, this is not the OBJ I once knew, loved, defended and worked so hard for. Something has gone wrong. No one could have made a statement against ANY tribe in the presence of the old OBJ that we all knew and respected and got away with it.”
Mr. Fani-Kayode has been on the offensive since Sunday after a British envoy, Ben Llewellyn-Jones singled him out as one of those whose comments were offensive during the elections, hinting at a visa ban against him and ten others.
The former aviation minister had also taken to Twitter and verbally attacked Llewellyn-Jones, the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, calling him “a misguided, mischievous and clearly unlettered Englander.”
The British envoy had during an interview with Nigeria Info FM on Sunday faulted some Nigerian politicians for making “derogatory” remarks.
He said, “Yes, let’s be specific, there were some people, like Femi Fani-Kayode, what is he saying and why is he saying it? I don’t understand.
“It is wrong from my perspective that he will speak on behalf of a party and that party does not distance itself from him and say stop doing that. It is wrong to say that.”
But Fani-Kayode in a response on Sunday snapped, “I would advise this Ben, who I am told is the Deputy High Commissioner of the UK to Nigeria, to keep his dirty nose out of our internal affairs.
“Nigeria stopped being a British colony 63 years ago and we need no lessons from him on how to run our affairs or conduct our politics.”
Again in another tweet on Monday, the former minister challenged the British deputy high commissioner to Nigeria to do his “very worst.”
Fani-Kayode said, “That strange little bald man with slooping shoulders at the British Embassy has really got a nerve. I will take up this matter formally. His diplomatic immunity is not absolute: it is qualified. He is therefore subject to our laws.
“As for his threats, I challenge him to do his very worst. We are not your slaves. Nigeria is an independent sovereign nation. We are no longer a colony. To hell with him and those that are egging him on and licking his feet. I am FFK: I fear no-one and I bow before no man.”
CHECKPOINTCHARLEY 