By Kemi Omosanya

FFK, who should know better, is fanning the fires of a breakup of the country.

Femi Fani-Kayode is a lawyer and politician. He was, at different times during Obasanjo’s tenure as president, Special Assistant (public affairs) to the president, Minister of Culture and Tourism, and Minister of Aviation. However, despite Femi being a ‘public figure’, he is famed for his reckless utterances.

Over the years, he has been very vocal in his defence of former president Obasanjo, the ‘Obasanjo boys’ (El-Rufa’i, Ribadu, and himself) and even Babangida. He has been the source of not a few gaffes, one of the well-remembered ones being when he accused Saminu Turaki on Facebook of ‘supplying girls’ to Obasanjo.

In recent times, during the OccupyNigeria protests, FFK tried to align himself with the protesters, raising eyebrows among young Nigerians. The former minister has continued to write articles on front-burner issues in the country, some of which have led to even more criticism from readers.

In his latest article published on omojuwa.com, while FFK has a valid point when he writes: “Nigeria must change, she must be restructured, she must be reformed and she must make every single Nigerian believe that he or she can get to the top regardless of their nationality or faith. Other than that, whether we like it or not, Nigeria will eventually break”, his other words are inciting.

A little background run:

Only last year, after the post-election violence in the north, in an article titled “The Killings in the north: The Facts and the Slippery Slopes”, published in NEXT newspaper on 2 May, 2011, Fani-Kayode said: “That the wisest, best and smartest thing to do in this ugly and unfolding scenario is to pray very hard and to ensure that we reach out to one another and build bridges across religious lines and the ethnic divide.”

Then, he further said that one of the facts he had established was “that the perception amongst most southerners… that only Christians, middle-belters and southerners were targeted for death during those riots is completely wrong.”

A change in thought:

Today, still on killings in the north (but this time by the Boko Haram sect), FFK has changed his tune and says; “There is nothing that is sacrosanct about a forced union of incompatibles. If you are in a bad marriage you get out of it before you kill each other.”

He goes further to declare that “The mistake we made in 1967 by not standing on Aburi will not be repeated. The days of the master/servant relationship that we have witnessed between the north and the south and christians and muslims for 51 years of our national existence are long over and they shall never return again.”

With those words, FFK, who should know better, is fanning the fires of a breakup of the country. At a time when Boko Haram continues to rain fire and brimstone in the north, and MASSOB members in the east are threatening to attack, in retaliation for the killings of their townsmen by the Boko Haram sect, the citizens of this country need all of the soothing and level-headedness they can get.

This country has enough problems without the added ones that war will bring. Comments such as those of Fani-Kayode should be condemned unequivocally and the message of peace and cohesion should continue to be propagated.

Link to the

“India and Sudan have broken into 2 and 3 parts – why should Nigeria be different?” – The Femi Fani-Kayode piece everyone’s talking about!