Femi Fani-Kayode

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Femi Fani-Kayode
Personal details
Born (1960-10-16) 16 October 1960 (age 63)
Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria
SpouseSaratu Atta (1987-1990)

Yemisi Olasunbo Adeniji (1991-1995) Regina Amonoo (1997-)

Precious Chikwendu (2014-2020)
Children8
ProfessionLawyer, poet, essayist, politician

David Oluwafemi Adewunmi Abdulateef Fani-Kayode (

Peoples Democratic Party
.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Fani-Kayode became the Special Assistant on Public Affairs to Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 to June 2006. He was appointed the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 22 June to 7 November 2006, and the Minister of Aviation from 7 November 2006 to 29 May 2007.

Early life and education

Fani-Kayode was born on 16 October 1960 in

Western Region of Nigeria from 1963 until 1966 and he successfully moved the motion for Nigeria's independence in 1958 in the Nigerian Parliament.[1][2]

Femi Fani-Kayode started his education at the age of eight at

Pentecostal Christian. He decided to go back to school to study theology at the Christian Action Faith Bible Seminary in Accra, Ghana, gaining a diploma in theology in 1995.[3]

Political career

Aviation Ministry
as the Honourable Minister of Aviation. Since the end of the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration on 29 May 2007, Femi Fani-Kayode has gone back to the private sector and to his legal practice.

Challenges and allegations

Fani-Kayode (left) with President Olusegun Obasanjo at a private lunch to honour Chief Fani-Kayode's 50th birthday on 18 October 2010

Femi Fani-Kayode was investigated and arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in July 2008 in connection with the alleged misappropriation of a 19.5 billion naira (approx.US$300,000,000) "Aviation Intervention Fund." The investigation found no evidence against him.[5][6] The Senate Committee on Aviation in early 2008, initially recommended that Fani-Kayode be banned from holding public office for five years but withdrew the request when he had not violated any law.[7][8]

Nnenadi Usman and Andy Uba, by accusing them of plotting a coup. This was the same method that was adopted by General Sani Abacha who had jailed Obasanjo on similar charges when he was in power. General Obasanjo was released and pardoned a number of years later after Abacha died and after General Abdulsalami Abubakar took power.[9]

In November 2010, Fani-Kayode said that Yar'Adua's sought to jail and destroy his predecessor in office and the man that single-handedly brought him to power, President Olusegun Obasanjo, as well as his loyalists, including El-Rufai, Ribadu, and Fani-Kayode himself.[10] He also alleged that Baba Gana Kingibe, the Secretary to the Federal Government during the Yar'Adua administration, was the principal enforcer of that plan and that Yar'Adua administration officials James Ibori, Tanimu Yakubu, Abba Ruma and Michael Aondoakaa were also involved.[10]

On 25 August 2020, while attending a brief press conference during his tour of

social networks expressed great displeasure at his barrage of insults taking into context the fact that he was a lawyer and could have exhibited more decorum. On 26 August 2020, he issued an apology to the journalist which has since been considered to be half-hearted and insincere on his part.[11]

Arrested by EFCC

Fani-Kayode was arrested in December 2008 by the EFCC and charged with 47 counts of money laundering.

Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai and Nuhu Ribadu, for their ties to President Obasanjo.[17] On 22 October, EFCC operatives of arrested on a 17-count charge of unlawful retention, unlawful use and unlawful payment of money in the tune of about N4.9 billion, a charge brought against them by the anti-graft commission.[18]

Fani-Kayode discharged and acquitted of money laundering charges

Fani-Kayode was discharged and acquitted on 1 July by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on the two-count charge of money laundering preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The court held that the EFCC was unable to prove the charges against Fani-Kayode beyond reasonable doubt and consequently acquitted him.[19][20]

In his victory press statement, Fani-Kayode changed his name from Oluwafemi Fani-Kayode to Olufemi Olu-Kayode (meaning "the Lord brings joy"). According to him, this was done as a mark of gratitude to God following his acquittal of all the remaining money laundering charges that were brought against him by the EFCC. Fani-Kayode had fought the case since 1 July 2008 and he was finally cleared of all the remaining charges that had not been dismissed earlier on 1 July 2015. This was 7 years to the day after his ordeal first started.[21]

Kayode had fought the case since 2008 was accused by the EFCC to have laundered about N100m while he was Minister of Culture and Tourism and subsequently Aviation Minister. The allegedly laundered sum was however reduced to N2.1m on 17 November 2014 after Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia, dismissed 38 out of the 40 counts levelled against Fani-Kayode by the EFCC for want of proof. [22]

Poems and essays

Nasir El-Rufai, December 2010

In November 2009, before Yar'Adua fell ill, Fani-Kayode wrote a poem titled "I Stand and I Fight".[23] In this poem, he described Yar'Adua as a "sickly tyrant with an amalekite foundation" and he predicted that "his end would soon come".[23] Fani-Kayode wrote other poems over the last few years.[24][25][26]

In January 2010, approximately two months after Yar'Adua left Nigeria and was flown to Saudi Arabia on medical grounds (during which time no Nigerian other than his wife and his chief security officer saw him or any pictures of him), there were strong speculations in the country that the president was dead, was in a deep coma or was so sick that he could not speak or get up from his sick bed in his Saudi Arabian hospital. This resulted in a power vacuum in Nigeria as a consequence of which a constitutional crisis began to unfold.[27] The President's supporters and cabinet ministers, led by his wife Turai Yar'Adua, resisted the suggestion that the vice-president should take over power while the President was incapacitated even though this was what the Nigerian constitution prescribed,[28] Fani-Kayode added his voice to that of President Obasanjo, President Shehu Shagari, General Yakubu Gowon, Ernest Shonekan and other former heads of government, former cabinet ministers, former legislators, leading opposition figures and leading members of the ruling PDP party by publicly calling for the resignation of President Yaradua and for the transference of power to Vice-president Goodluck Jonathan at that critical time.[29][30] To convey his view Fani-Kayode wrote a satire in Next Newspaper and titled it "Corpsology: Umaru's Gift To The Modern World". In the article Fani-Kayode suggested that by insisting on ruling Nigeria from his sick bed in Saudi Arabia and through his acolytes and wife, the President and his supporters were not just breaching the Nigerian constitution but that they were also surreptitiously introducing an entirely new and alien system of government into Nigeria, destroying democracy and attempting to perpetuate themselves in power through that new system indefinitely. He argued that this was being done by the authorities even where it was clear that the President was already "half dead". Fani-Kayode defined his concept of corpsology (or "corpsocracy" as he sometimes calls it) as "the rulership of the living by the dead" and the thrust and intent of his satire was to clearly convey the message that the attempt to introduce this hitherto unknown system of government into Nigeria by Yaradua, his wife and his kitchen cabinet was unacceptable and must not be allowed to stand.[31]

blood diamonds" trial of Charles Taylor at The Hague.[33]

Fani-Kayode was also involved in a debate about the mysterious circumstances under which Nigeria's first Prime Minister, Sir

Segun Osoba, a former state governor, and he proffered the view that the Prime Minister had actually been murdered.[34][35] Fani-Kayode wrote other essays over the years.[36][37][38] In 2011 he called for the "crushing" of the Islamic fundamentalist sect called Boko Haram
which claimed responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of Nigerians in a campaign of terror and bombing in their quest to ban western education and set up an Islamic fundamentalist caliphate in the whole of northern Nigeria".

Family

Femi Fani-Kayode has been married four times. His first marriage was to Saratu "Baby" Atta in 1987 and they were divorced by 1990. They have one daughter whose name is Oluwafolake. The second marriage was to Yemisi Olasunbo Adeniji in 1991 but they were divorced by 1995. They have three daughters whose names are Oluwatemitope, Oluwatobiloba and Oluwatuminu. The third marriage was to Regina-Hanson Amonoo. They were married in 1997 and have one daughter, whose name is Oluwaremilekun. In 2014 Femi Fani-Kayode and Precious Chikwendu, a beauty queen and the winner of the Miss United Nations (world) beauty pageant 2014, got married. This was his fourth marriage. On 1 February 2016 Fani-Kayode and his wife had their first son.[39] He was christened Joshua Oluwafemi Emmanuel Lotanna Aragorn Fani-Kayode. He is Fani-Kayode's first son. On 25 May 2018 Precious Chikwendu Fani-Kayode gave birth to three boys. Their names are:

1. Ragnar, Alexander, Okunade, Olusegun, Ikenna Fani-Kayode

2. Aiden, Daniel, Olumide, Jidenna, Benaniah Fani-Kayode

3. Liam, Michael, Oluwanifemi, Tobenna, Jehu Fani-Kayode[40]

The birth of the triplets was made all the more auspicious by the fact that they were delivered on their mother's birthday.

Femi Fani-Kayode's older brother,

Association of Black Photographers (Autograph) and who died in 1989 due to complications from HIV infection.[41]

References

  1. ^ Richard L. Sklar, Power in an Emergent African Nation, Google Books, p. 269.
  2. ^ "The Truth About the Motion for Independence", AllAfrica.com, 27 September 2010.
  3. ^ a b Emmanuel Ajibulu, "Femi Fani-Kayode- Separating the Wheat from the Chaff" Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Business Guide Ghana, Monday, 7 December 2009.
  4. ^ Emmanuel Ajibulu ,"Chief Remi Fani-Kayode: The Facts and Not the Fiction", ModernGhaha.com, November 2009.
  5. ^ Willy Eya, "OBJ Boys on the Cross" Archived 17 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine, The Sun News, 30 November 2008.
  6. ^ Funso Muraina and Ahamefula Ogbu, "Nigeria: Borishade, Fani-Kayode Arraigned, Denied Bail", All-Africa.com, 3 July 2008.
  7. ^ Tobi Soniyi, "Borishade, Iyayi in fresh trouble"[permanent dead link], The Punch, 15 September 2008.
  8. ^ Tobi Soniyi, "...drags Borisade, others to court" Archived 7 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Punch, Friday, 10 October 2008.
  9. ^ "Coup Scare: Obasanjo's men on watch list ...Former Minister confirms receiving e-mails from Military Officers ...Why El-Rufai’s shelved return " Archived 17 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Pointblanknews.com, 7 December 2010.
  10. ^ a b Seye Kehinde ,"Yar'Adua's plan was to destroy Obasanjo, Ex-Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode – (Part I)", Modern Ghana, 15 November 2010.
  11. ^ "FANI-KAYODE VS NUJ: Outrage, condemnation trail assault on journalist". Vanguard News. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  12. ^ http://www.efccnigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=516&Itemid=34 Archived 31 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
  13. ^ Tony Amokeodo, "Money laundering: Fani-Kayode to spend Christmas in prison" Archived 24 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Punch, 24 December 2008.
  14. ^ http://www.efccnigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=517&Itemid=34 Archived 31 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
  15. ^ http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvnews/37575/1/farida-amp-efcc-is-this-rule-of-law.html Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
  16. ^ " Yar’Adua will send Obansanjo to prison – El Rufai "[permanent dead link], Daily Trust, 21 October 2009.
  17. ^ "Obasanjo, Atiku and I, by Fani-Kayode" Archived 26 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Nation, By Our Reporter, 16 October 2009.
  18. ^ "Fani-Kayode arrested by EFCC | The Sun News". sunnewsonline.com. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  19. ^ www.vanguardngr.com (1 July 2015). "Alleged money laundering: Fani-Kayode discharged and acquitted". Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  20. ^ www.pearl.com.ng. "BREAKING: At Last Femi Fani-Kayode Discharged & Acquitted". Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  21. ^ www.thisdaylive.com. "Fani-Kayode Changes His Name as Court Acquits Him of Money Laundering". Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  22. ^ "Court decides Fani-Kayode's money-laundering case June 18". Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  23. ^ a b "I Stand and Fight", The Nigerian Voice, 17 November 2010.
  24. ^ "The Power of a Woman" Archived 17 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, The Will Nigeria, 18 April 2010.
  25. ^ "A Tribute to the Warrior", The Nigerian Voice, 9 April 2010.
  26. ^ "St. Barts and The God-Sent Child", Modern Ghana, 27 December 2011.
  27. ^ Burgis, Tom, "Nigeria constitutional crisis looms", FT.com, 6 January 2010.
  28. ^ "Resign Now: Choose the path of honour, Obasanjo tells Yar’Adua" Archived 24 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Sahara Reporters, 21 January 2010.
  29. ^ By Sufuyan Ojeifo and Paul Ohia,"Yar’Adua: National and global pressure mounts • Gowon, Shagari, Shonekan, 200 House members demand vacation letter • US, UK, France, EU worry over ‘uncertainty’"[permanent dead link], THIS DAY, 29 January 2010.
  30. ^ "Yar'Adua Did Not Speak With Jonathan'" Archived 13 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Leadership Nigeria, 30 January 2010.
  31. ^ Femi Fani-Kayode,"Corpsology: Umaru's gift to the modern world " Archived 27 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Next, 30 January 2010.
  32. ^ "Charles Taylor: A Man Betrayed", National Daily, 7 August 2010.
  33. ^ "Charles Taylor: A Man Betrayed" Archived 18 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Next, 9 August 2010.
  34. ^ "Femi Fani-Kayode: Who Killed Sir Tafawa Balewa?", Modern Ghana, 6 September 2010.
  35. ^ "The Death of Tafawa Balewa: the Segun Osoba angle", AllAfrica.com, 19 September 2010.
  36. ^ "Obasanjo, Yar'Adua, Buhari And Power Sector", All Africa, 28 March 2010.
  37. ^ "major hamza al-mustapha; a grave and grievous injustice ", Elendu Reports, 27 July 2010.
  38. ^ "Between Igbo, Yoruba and the Nigerian Women" Archived 12 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Wille, 7 April 2011.
  39. ^ Ibeh, Nnenna (8 February 2016). "First photos of Fani-Kayode's son". NAIJ. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  40. ^ "Fani-Kayode's wife delivered of a set of triplets". 25 May 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  41. ^ "Fani-Kayode, Rotimi (1955–1989)" Archived 16 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine, GLBTQ Arts.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Femi Fani-Kayode.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Femi_Fani-Kayode&oldid=1230380364"