Those who fight evil with evil are nothing but that which they are fighting against. With all due respect, I don’t understand why everyone is surprised by the outburst of Femi Fani-Kayode against the Daily Trust reporter; most especially, the faux-outrage by a section of journalists.
The media for over 10 years have given the same Fani-Kayode platforms to spew all manner of despicable; vile and awful bile against anyone who disagrees with him.
His baseless accusations are taken as newsworthy. His undisguised hatred for some individuals is widely propagated. Also, his bigotry, his Islamophobia, conspiracies, lies, and ethnocentrism are published without fact-checking. Now, he has turned against a journalist. Suddenly, our morality has resumed duty!
But he who gives birth to a monster must nurse it.
Anyone with a decent memory knows that Fani-Kayode considers both religion and ethnicity as cards to be traded like currencies. No offence to forex traders. But as long as his gun was trained at perceived common enemies or those we considered as powerful, it’s alright. That is sheer hypocrisy.
“If the short man doesn’t resign within six months, they will soon be sending him to wash toilets. You came in on the same ticket, you sold your soul, you betrayed your people; your tribe, your region and your faith and you sucked your boss’ rectum for 4 yrs! Look at what you got in return! Shame on you!”
The shameful diatribe above was directed at Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo. But all of us in the media read it, published it and we all kept quiet. Even when Osinbajo survived a helicopter crash in Kabba, Kogi state; Fani-Kayode dropped some hateful comments.
Yet, there was no outrage.
The tweet above and many more of his g beyond criticism. It is pure hatred. However, his reaction to the journalist’s gentle probing in Calabar justifies the saying that; “he can dish it, but he can’t take it.”
Fani-Kayode has no moral value. Rather, everything is up for profit. Today, he is posing as a friend to the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Biafra struggle. But a search of his views from 2013 tells a different tale.
In a piece he wrote in 2013, titled: The Bitter Truth About the Igbos; Fani-Kayode unleashed his bile against the Igbos. Here is an excerpt from the bigoted piece.
‘‘It is that same attitude of ‘‘we own everything”, ‘‘we must have everything” and ‘‘we must control everything”; that the Igbo settlers manifested in the northern region in the late 50’s and early and mid-60’s that got them into so much trouble up there with the Hausa-Fulani and that eventually led to the terrible pogroms where almost one hundred thousand of them were killed in just a few days.
”Again, it is that same attitude that they manifested in Lagos and the Western Region in the late ’30’s and the early and mid-40’s that alienated the Yoruba from them; that led to the establishment of the Action Group in April, 1951 and that resulted in the narrow defeat of Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe in the Western Regional elections of December, 1951.
‘‘As a matter of fact, they were the ones that FIRST introduced tribalism into southern politics in 1945; with the unsavoury comments of Mr. Charles Dadi Onyeama who was a member of the Central Legislative Council representing Enugu…who said at the Igbo State Union address that; ‘‘the domination of Nigeria and Africa by the Igbo is only a matter of time.”
Before switching over to Goodluck Jonathan’s side, he usually reserved the worse for Jonathan.
Here is another excerpt from a speech in 2013. It is important that we take a look at the infusion of ethnicity into the speech.
“The truth is that this government is fast living up to its reputation of being utterly clueless and manifestly dishonest. Worse still, their incompetence, whether it is to do with the handling of security matters or the economy; has no bounds and knows no end.
“I say this because never in the history of our country has the Yoruba suffered so much shame, marginalisation, humiliation; insults, contempt, aggression and disgrace as they have under the present dispensation and under the auspices of the Federal Government of President Goodluck Jonathan.”
However, as soon as he switched sides, he made a baseless accusation that APC leaders are cultists with fetish practices. Suddenly, Jonathan was the best thing to happen to Nigerians aside the discovery of Garri.
“Unfortunately, the APC leadership has consistently indulged in all manner of occultism. They are essentially a party of cultists. They have used occultism in enslaving the Nigerian people over the last few months. (Also), they slaughter cows, goats, ducks and other living things as sacrifices to the devil…They bathe with soap that is made out of human faeces.”
“They consult the stars and they discuss serious national issues with mediums and sorcerers. That is their stock in trade. They sought to put the whole of Nigeria under a spell of fear for the February 14 elections. They invoked all kinds of fetish powers and demonic entities to effect this,’’ FFK wrote after joining the Jonathan administration.
Further, his hatred was subsequently directed at the Fulani. To achieve this new goal, he added religion to it and embraced Nnamdi Kanu, another known bigot. However, his hatred for the Fulani does not stop him from exploiting his Fulani heritage for political gain.
“My grandfather, Sheik Nurudeen Sa’ I’d, who was half-Fulani and half-Yoruba, got married to my grandmother,’’ he had said. This was in 2013 when being related to Fulani was profitable for him politically.
Recently, he had taken a Chieftaincy title from a Fulani Emirate in Zamfara. During that visit, he praised the contentious RUGA settlement.
“I also visited one of the three massive RUGA settlements that were under construction and discovered how this initiative has resulted in a lasting peace process and healing amongst the various hitherto warring communities in Zamfara state.”
Equally important, this excerpt is a markedly strong departure from his earlier stances. First, it was political sharia. Then Islamist Boko Haram. Then terrorist Fulani herdsmen. And now RUGA cow settlements.
The point is, Fani-Kayode will trade anything for political gain. Equally, the media has been giving him platforms to achieve his goals; even at the detriment of the country. The question is, what will the media do with his latest outburst? The answer is simple. Nothing. Apart from the usual condemnation by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) which has come and gone; the media will do nothing.
FFK supplies it with massive click-baits and sound bite.
This is just the first in many more to come.
Indeed, the bigot is now a dictator.
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