Opinion: Femi Fani-Kayode and his blackmail of the Igbos

by Chukwuemerie Uduchukwu

femi-fani-kayode

Chief Kayode should utilize his wisdom and intelligence to make useful contributions that will promote the national unity instead of releasing statements that will cause Nigerians to promote tribalism. Also the governments and elders of the south-west geopolitical zone should call Chief Femi Fani-Kayode to order.

After reading articles written by the former Aviation Minister Chief Femi Fani-Kayode specifically about the Igbos, I realized that Chief Kayode might be simply confused, or that he is just been economical with the truth. This is because he contradicted himself while trying to disclose some things he knew about the Igbo race. For example in his article, ‘For Ojukwu, I wished I was born Igbo’, Chief Kayode praised the Igbo race and admited that they were indeed a great catalyst to the development of
Nigeria and also a mentor to himself. In that article Chief Kayode stated “He told me that unlike the Yoruba the Igbo were republican in nature and very independent-minded and that an Igbo father could not easily dictate to a son what his career should or should not be. For a brief moment I was overwhelmed and I wished that I had been born an Igbo. How different
things would have been.”

He further hailed Ojukwu who remains a great hero of the Igbos and also acknowledged the fact that the Igbos were humiliated and intimidated before and during the civil war by saying “Unlike many of those who have hail you only in death, you were man enough to stand up and say no more and never again  when your people were faced with genocide and mass murder.” “During the civil war the Biafrans fought like great men and lions simply because they were led by a great man and a great lion. We shall continue the fight for liberation where you stopped. The battle has passed to the next generation.”

The words of chief Kayode in this article revealed that he knows that the Igbos are as important as other tribes and in fact a very important tribe to Nigeria and Africa in general. However, his statements in the articles he wrote later concerning the Igbo race revealed his extreme tribalistic personality and his confused ideology. I respect Chief Femi Fani-Kayode as a person and I also respect most of his views about Nigeria but recent write-ups of him are too bad to originate from a person like him who supposed to be a true nationalist and a state-man. Even in one of his articles published last year titled ‘How the Igbo introduced tribalism to Nigerian Politics’, Chief Kayode quoted Igbo domination of Nigeria is only a matter of time  Charles Onyeama, a prominent igbo lawyer and member of the Central Legislative Council, 1945. (Page 204 Ethnic Politics In Kenya and Nigeria by Godfrey Mwakikagile).

It would appear that the God of Africa has created the Igbo nation to lead the children of Africa from the bondage of ages “ Dr
Azikiwe, President of the Pan-Igbo Federal Union. (The West African Pilot of July 8, 1949).

The above quotations of Chief Kayode were simply misinterpreted by him to achieve some sentimental gains. Every human is naturally expected to hail his tribe or locality. It is unwarranted for chief Kayode in the statement he accredited to Charles Onyema to disclose that the Igbos wanted to take over the whole country. Every hardworking individual or society always
endevour to dominate their residential areas. Chief Onyema in that statement simply mean that due to the diligent nature of the Igbos, time will come when every part of the country will possess Igbo indigenes and that has been already fulfilled because their is no part of Nigeria you will go today without seeing an Igbo man. Also, Chief Kayode misunderstood or probably misinterpreted Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in the statement that he accredited to him. He quoted Dr. Azikiwe as saying that God of Africa has created the Igbo nation to lead the children of Africa from bondage of ages. He interpreted the
statement to mean that Igbos will be  permanent leaders of Africa. But the truth is that Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe today remains a great Nationalist that fought for one indivisible Nigerian entity. Dr. Azikiwe was only acknowledging the great relevance of the Igbos to the development of the African continent. Chief kayode failed to point out the efforts of Dr. Azikiwe that gave him the title ‘Zik of Africa’.

Also in his recent article titled ‘Lagos, The Igbo And The Servants Ofm Truth’, Chief Kayode alleged that “The claim that the Igbo helped to develop Lagos is hogwash. The major institutions of the south-west were developed by the diligence, hard-work, industry and sweat of the Yoruba people.” In fact, this statement showed that Chief Kayode was not sincere
with himself. I am not here to boast about the diligent nature of the Igbos but I want to make it clear that the Igbos were part of the efforts that brought about the development of Lagos State. Aside the fact that Lagos was a former capital of Nigerian nation, 75 percent of it’s developement were achieved due to the diligent and selfless efforts of the Igbos. If any body doubt this, such a person must believe that this is the green truth if the Igbos decide to effect a ‘sit at home’ action in Lagos for just 48hours and 95percent of all businesses and activities in the state will be at a stand-still, even the streets of the state will certainly be deserted.

Moreover, the claim by chief Fani-Kayode that the major institutions of the south-west were developed by the diligence, hard-work, industry and sweat of the Yoruba people is baseless. Lagos which is the economic heartland of the south-west achieved it’s position today due to efforts by non-Lagosians mainly from the government and other residents from other parts the country especially the east. Chief Kayode may be right by blasting former Abia Governor Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu for saying that Lagos is no man’s land but if logically interpreted, Dr. Kalu may be right because non-Lagosians inhabit almost all parts of the state on a large scale. Also in his recent article titled ‘The Bitter Truth About The Igbo’ Chief Kayode further expressed his biased view of the Igbo race. It is true that no community or state will like to accommodate destitute but Chief Kayode took the issue personal and heat the polity up more my misinterpreting various statements to blackmail the Igbos.

As a state-man and nationalist which Chief Kayode claim to be, he should have advised both the Lagos and Anambra states government on a peaceful and better way to resolve the crises instead of catalyzing ethnic and tribal sentiments. It is well acknowledged that Lagos state is a state that encourages hospitality. In fact the Igbos will continue to express their gratitude to the state for promoting civilization and one Nigeria through their overwhelming hospitality. However, such does not warrant the unnecessary blackmail of the Igbo race by anybody.

Chief Kayode should utilize his wisdom and intelligence to make useful contributions that will promote the national unity instead of releasing statements that will cause Nigerians to promote tribalism. Also the governments and elders of the south-west geopolitical zone should call Chief Femi Fani-Kayode to order.

A true nationalist and patriot is that person whose words and actions are geared towards the promotion of the unity and progress of his country. Enough of all these blackmails.

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

 

Comments (6)

  1. Y dont u liv this man(ffk) wit his stupidity statment consanin tribalsm of his sencles. Do u tink a pason can jst stnd nd b provn tribalism? Han! Bt i blame u 4respond to his weak wik by naratn a long insanity histry consann tribalsm, hel wit ur effot ova lagos, are u a GOD hu av made tins posibu 2day, ok let ur ingrate “wie u av bin makin money”igbo bssns men quit 2 dia fobidn(slav) land, weda d bssns wont continu in sout-west. So, i count dat ur wasted histry as a labour lost, “i min Nigeria is yet 2setu” u r makin useles histry, are u a GOD dat av bin kipin dis nation away 4rm war. Pls my broda GOD jst use zik nd his coleag nd not only him 4 Nigeria or u want me 2draw out d real histry, bt, i wont b stupid like u 2b punchn out useles tribalsm “i min Nigeria is yet 2setu” pls foget abot tribalsm or no tribalism. so, GOD bles u nd all Nigerians, let’s friend’s continue. Han!

  2. Wow

  3. n as much as I would not support FFK on his views about d Igbos. I would rather say dt FFFK shld just shld be a little more cautious when writing on sensitive issues that touch on tribalism, while I would equally advice my igbo brothers and sisters to learn not to make unfounded and anger inducing statements like these ones this writer just made. To say dt 75% of all d development in Lagos were achieved due to the diligent and selfless efforts of the Igbos is not only unscholarly, unscientific, and unfounded but provocative and an insult to other Nigerian tribes and nationals who reside and do businesses in Lagos. To assert that 98% of activities would be grounded in Lagos if d Igbos decide to stay back in their homes is not only laughable but annoying. Now I see where FFK is coming from. Many Igbos if not all like to seek relevance by self imposition. They always remind us of hw hardworking they are, hw they are the Jews of Africa and hw dey developed the other 31 states and Abuja. But I’ve alwys queried dt if Igbos are truly all what they claim to be, why didn’t they build d economy of the south east to b envy of other region? How come d poverty rate in d southeast is that high? How come d crime rate in d east is far higher than that of d west? Why can’t d igbos invest a larger proportion of their resources and energy in d southeast? Why develop d economy of other regions at d expense of theirs? I presume their is something we need to knw about d Igbos dt d Igbos are not telling us…

  4. In as much as I would not support FFK on his views about d Igbos. I would rather say dt FFFK shld just shld be a little more cautious when writing on sensitive issues that touch on tribalism, while I would equally advice my igbo brothers and sisters to learn not to make unfounded and anger inducing statements like these ones this writer just made. To say dt 75% of all d development in Lagos were achieved due to the diligent and selfless efforts of the Igbos is not only unscholarly, unscientific, and unfounded but provocative and an insult to other Nigerian tribes and nationals who reside and do businesses in Lagos. To assert that 98% of activities would be grounded in Lagos if d Igbos decide to stay back in their homes is not only laughable but annoying. Now I see where FFK is coming from. Many Igbos if not all likes to seek relevance by self imposition. They always remind us of hw hardworking they are, hw they are the Jews of Africa and hw dey developed the other 31 states and Abuja. But d questions I keep asking them is if Igbos are truly all what they claim to be, let them concentrate more of their efforts in building the economy of the south east and do less in other regions. After all there is no place like home.

  5. The truth about Femi Fani Kayode is that, he lacks home training.He has been rendered politicaly irrelevance.seeking to be relevanance in the wrong direction.

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