The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fani-Kayode

Before Bianca, Fani-Kayode turn their feud into roforofo

As a primary school pupil, some of my best moments were the periods set aside for Bible Studies. I looked forward to them because of the interesting stories we were regaled with and because the handlers of the subject were not the regular teachers, but clergymen deployed from some of the surrounding churches. We were sure that even if we provoked them, the Bible Studies teachers would not deploy the cane like the other teachers did. The worst they would do was to tell us that we should not act like Satan’s offspring so that we would not go into hell fire. It was a tension-free atmosphere we cherished and wished that the other teachers would emulate.

My love for Bible Studies continued into my early years in secondary school, but I had a problem with the teacher after the first few classes in my first year. I had enjoyed the stories about creation and the activities of Adam and Eve in Eden up until the time they sinned and lost favour with God. But I became apprehensive the day the teacher told us that Adam knew Eve and Eve conceived and gave birth to Cain. In pristine innocence, I asked the teacher why it took Adam so long to know Eve when the two had lived together for years as husband and wife. And by what magic did a man and a woman simply knowing each other translate into conception and the birth of a baby?

The teacher ignored the clarifications I sought, but I continued to chew on the issue until I realised that the word “know” in the context it was used meant more than the dictionary could explain. That probably informs the furore that was generated in the camp of former beauty queen and Nigerian Ambassador to Spain, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, when former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, declared on his facebook account that he intimately knew Bianca, the widow of Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, former Biafran leader and Ikemba Nnewi, in her prime. For a woman that is quite familiar with the biblical story of Adam and Eve, it is discomforting enough that a man would claim to have known her, not to talk of doing so intimately.

Fani-Kayode’s seemingly innocuous claim, now labelled an outburst by Bianca and her supporters, had been made in the most innocent and fortuitous manner. Defending himself against some critics who had labelled him a tribalist and hater of the Igbo race, Fani-Kayode felt the need to highlight some past deeds he thought would hold him up as a shining example of a detribalised Nigerian. The deeds, according to the former Aviation Minister, include the long list of Igbo women he had dated and could have taken as wives if circumstances had permitted.

In the piece titled ‘A Word for Those Who Call Me a Tribalist,’ Fani-Kayode wrote: “I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Bianca Onoh, an Igbo lady who later married Colonel Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the leader of Biafra and who is now our Ambassador in Spain. I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Chioma Anasoh, another Igbo lady who I almost married. I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Adaobi Uchegbu, another Igbo lady who was exceptionally close to me and who is now a leading figure at the National Headquarters of the ruling PDP.”

For understandable reasons, this portion of the piece has generated the most interest, particularly from Fani-Kayode’s traducers who are not impressed with his definition of nationalism. They cannot understand why the virile ex-minister would glory in his exploits with women, while his contemporaries elsewhere are building castles in Mars. The more fastidious ones are even demanding the age at which he began to cast his nuptial net as to have caught such a long list of Igbo chicks. They are also eager to know how many Yoruba, Hausa, Ijaw, Efik, Idoma, Tiv, Ibibio, Kanuri, Fulani or Jukun women have profited from his patriotic and nationalistic zeal.

Bianca, certainly, is not enjoying any of these. And in spite of the testimonies of Kemi, the controversial daughter of former civilian governor of Oyo State, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, that she was an eye witness to Bianca and Fani-Kayode’s intimate relationship as students in the UK, Bianca insists that Fani-Kayode is as strange as unicorn. She insists that she has never met him much less maintain a relationship, no matter how casual. And to strengthen her stance, she has threatened a legal action against Fani-Kayode unless he publishes a retraction in some national newspapers and tender unreserved apology for maligning her and defaming her character.

But there is an impasse as Fani-Kayode stands by his words and threatens to also drag Bianca to court for presenting him as a liar in the public eye. “We will also be instigating (not just instituting) our own legal proceedings against her in due course for her barefaced and malicious lies and her consistent claims that she has not met Chief Fani-Kayode, all in an attempt to libel, defame, diminish and discredit him before the entire world,” Fani-Kayode’s media assistant said in a statement. The statement maintained that Fani-Kayode did not only have an intimate relationship with Bianca, he “knew her far better than she cares to publicly admit.” In a veiled threat, the statement added: “The precise nature of that relationship will be explored and exposed in open court!”

Considering that Bianca is still smarting from the death of her husband and the battles she is faced with on the home front over her late husband’s will, a legal battle with Fani-Kayode over a relationship he claims is in the past is the least distraction the Nigerian Ambassador to Spain needs at this time. This is besides the blow that such a battle could deal on her image as an ambassador, a former beauty queen and widow of a highly respected Igbo leader. A Yoruba adage says that when a blind man threatens to throw a stone, it is either he has one in his hand or there is one under his foot. What if Fani-Kayode’s threats are thought to be empty, but he comes up with disarming exhibits that would alarm even the presiding judge?

It is also in the nation’s interest that the dispute does not progress beyond the current level of grandstanding, considering the status of the two parties involved. Otherwise, the nation could be in for one of its most embarrassing moments as two national figures wash their dirty linens in the public. Our statesmen and other well-meaning Nigerians should prevail on the warring parties to sue for peace, particularly Bianca who definitely has more to lose if the feud degenerates into roforofo.

September 14, 2013
Fani-Kayode Vs. self-serving Igbo elite

Please tell Gbogungboro (the masked rambler without phone number) that the positive contributions the Igbos made to Lagos becomes obvious even when viewed from the prism of recent superficial events. How does Lagos look like when Igbos goes home for Christmas? Did your banks not collapse when Igbos withdrew their money to go home during the Abiola saga? The man must have studied perverted history at UCL. Be reminded that your Hausa masters are still around the corner, lest you forget. We are not unmindful that you will, as it is your habit, treacherously team up with them against the Igbos’ (08027188222)

I missed this columnist’s piece of August 22 titled ‘Letter to the Igbo nation by a friend’. It was the above reaction which the reader probably expected me to forward to the ‘masked rambler’. That prompted me to search for the said article. The summary: As a people not known to have developed kingdom and cities, very little was known of Igbo history until Professor Adiele Afigbo’s major work which established Igbo had no contact with people outside their immediate neighbourhood; that the Aworis, a Yoruba sub group, established a kingdom in Lagos Peninsular in the 12th century which by the 19th century had become an important trading post for the Europeans; that the British that used force to establish dominance over Lagos in 1851 went ahead in1861 to sign a treaty of cession with a Lagos king and in 1914 made Lagos the capital of Protectorate of Nigeria. The Igbos who, like other Nigerian groups, only started coming to Lagos in the 1920s, Gbogun gboro contended couldn’t have been responsible for turning Lagos from a jungle to a city as averred by Dr Ezeife and that Lagos could not have been no man’s land as claimed by Kalu Uzor Kalu.

I think, Gbogun gboro should have also reminded the two self-serving Igbo leaders that the Yoruba nation itself was, according to P. C. Lloyd, more culturally developed than Europe as at the time of the coming of the Europeans, if we use urbanisation as index of measurement.

It is not as if that alone would have cured the much abused ordinary Igbos of their feeling of persecution complex of God-ordained leaders of Africa persecuted in Nigeria by the Yoruba and Hausa Fulani out of envy as their self serving leaders had repeatedly drummed into their ears. The exploitation of the fears, infirmities and weaknesses of thousands of Igbos who live and face uncertainties in strangers’ land by their more privileged elite have gone on for far too long. This dates back to Zik’s arrival in 1934 when they needed a spokesman while the emerging educated Igbo elite were also scheming for positions in the approaching independent Nigeria.

As it was then, so it is today. Uzor Kalu, Dr Ezeife like Zik, Ozumba Mbadiwe and other self-centred Igbo leaders have only one thing in common- demonising others for the failure of Igbo leadership to mobilise their people for the development of their area. Uzor Kalu’s hypocrisy about fighting the Igbo cause, following confrontation with Lagos State government over failure to pay land charges on his palace in an exclusive haven of the rich in Lagos, is not different from Ozumba Mbadiwe who built a mansion comically christened ‘Palace of the people’ in the midst of his people’s squalor, from the proceeds of federal property he bought in Ijora, Lagos, and sublet back to the Federal Government at a scandalous higher rate. How did an inquiry into the diversion of Eastern State money to ACB, owned by Zik, his children and his friend, Sir Odumegwu Ojukwu, promote the cause of poor Igbos?

Ozumba Mbadiwe and self-serving Igbo leaders poisoned the minds of three generation of Igbo over the false claim that Awo and Yoruba betrayed Zik and therefore Igbos, after the parliamentary election into the Western State House of Assembly in 1951. “I witnessed how Awo and Yoruba betrayed Zik in the Western House in 1952’, Chinua Achebe declared. But, what both Igbo celebrated leaders did not state was that at the end of the 1951 parliamentary election, A.M.A. Akinloye led a delegation of those elected on the platform of his Ibadan Peoples Party to Zik. They insisted they would only consider a coalition with NCNC if he gave an undertaking to appoint a prominent Yoruba NCNC member as Premier of the West. Zik, supported by prominent Igbo NCNC members, insisted on becoming the Premier of the West without satisfactorily addressing the misgivings of Akinloye group about how an Igbo man would speak for the Igbos and the Yoruba at the centre while Hausa/Fulani speak for the north.

That we operate a federal arrangement underscores the fact that we are not one. But like the proverbial ostrich, we have paid little attention to the warning of Ahmadu Bello that we must try to understand our differences. We demonise those who say the truth by labelling them tribalists as if it is not the virtues of tribes we set out to celebrate when we adopted federalism as a system of government. We eulogise those who fraudulently claim to be Nigerians first, a strategy to acquire oil blocks, contracts and wield political power in Abuja without representing anyone.

Fani-Kayode’s celebration of the virtues of the Yoruba is the very essence of federalism. That does not make him an Igbo hater. Neither does he become one by stating documented facts; that the January 1966 selective senseless killings of non-Igbo military officers and non-Igbo politicians led to the vengeance coup of July 1966 and the mindless reprisal killings of Igbo military officers; that the Igbo political elite led by Nwafor Orizu, the Acting president, for selfish reasons, instead of swearing in Zana Bukar Dipcharimma as the Acting Prime Minster as provided for by the constitution sided with Ironsi, a commander-in-chief who, after foiling a coup, claimed he could not guarantee the safety of the surviving ministers unless he was given full powers as Head of State. From hindsight, can we not now conclude that Ironsi’s failure only vindicated Ahmadu Bello’s admonition when Ozumba Mbadiwe and others were lobbing for him that Nigeria would regret if he was foisted on the country as Commander-in-Chief?

The problem has always been that the Igbo elite, while eating with 10 fingers hardly take a principled position on any national issue that affects their Igbo people. In 1959, they entered into a coalition with NPC precisely because of what Igbo elite stood to gain. They did the same in 1979. On both occasions when the coalition collapsed, Igbo serving ministers refused to resign their positions as directed by their parties. They were partners-in-crime with Babangida over the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Abiola’s victory. They served as lackeys to Abacha’s despicable regime with the Ikemba himself serving as an errand boy for Abacha in Europe. In all these, it was about what was in it for the Igbo elite and not the people. In the current political dispensation, there is no difference between APGA and PDP, with the relative ease with which notable Igbos like Chukwuma Soludo, Dora Akunyili, moved from the latter to the former to contest election.

On the issue of restructuring, the Igbo elite have remained the most ambivalent. Despite the fact that it was former Vice-President Ekwueme that recommended a six-geopolitical zone structure for Nigeria, the dominant tendency in Igbo land prefers the easier path –crumbs from the Federal Government than the more difficult task of mobilising their people towards turning their own territory to Taiwan of Nigeria.

If we don’t understand where we are coming from, we will likely not know where we are going. I think after three generations of falsehood, today’s Igbo youths should search for the truth and raise some critical questions. For instance, would their leaders who schemed out Eyo Ita, a minority Premier of the East have accepted Prince Adeleke Adedoyin or Dr Ibiyinka Olorun-Nimbe the two NCNC members that defeated and refused to step down for Zik in the 1952 National Parliament election, as Premier of the East in 1952? What was the role of the Igbo leaders in the unjust incarceration of Awo whose only sin was his mobilisation of the oppressed minorities for self-actualisation within the greater Nigeria nation? What was the role of the Igbo elite in the dismemberment of the old Western Region while ignoring the demand for self-actualistion of Efiks, Ibibios and Ijaw that constitute about 35 percent of the population of the then East? How come their leaders knew so little about the culture and history of the Yoruba with whom they had lived to have assumed Awo had the power to declare an Oduduwa State?

September 12, 2013
Lagos ‘deportation’: The crux of the matter

Stories remain one of the best and most potent forms of literature. And I remember, albeit hazily, one I heard as a child. I sat at the feet of my mother, aunt or grandmother. My memory fails me on the exact identity of the storyteller but the story lesson remains indelible and that is what I wish to share with readers.

Obi, a character in the story, was sent by his parents to go and fetch firewood for the evening meal in the forest of Okofia. The forest was at the boundary of the town in which Obi lived and the land of the spirits. Partly due to its location but also because it was so luxuriously verdant, the forest housed all manner of creatures, most notorious of which were the spirits that possessed the ability to change to other forms.

Everybody in the town knew this; children were warned repeatedly as they grew up: “Whenever you go into Okofia, keep your eyes straight ahead, gather your firewood and leave. Never look sideways or backwards.” Once in a while, a stubborn child went on an errand to Okofia and never returned.

So on this day, Obi set out for Okofia, fully aware of the dangers and what was expected of him. He gathered his pieces of firewood, tightly-bound with a strip of raffia and went about gathering some more raffia, which he would need to roll into a pad to balance the weight of the bundle of firewood he was to carry on his head. This done, Obi returned to where he had set the bundle of wood. A bird perched on his firewood; it was a pretty bird, with golden feathers, round yellow-rimmed eyes and a small beak that looked like it was made of ivory.

Obi stood for a while, transfixed by the beauty of this creature. He was, however, still very conscious of his surroundings. And that would have been his saving grace had the bird not started to sing. Obi knew that the spirits often crossed the border into Okofia disguised as animals but the stories he had heard spoke of spirits in forms of roaring lions, growling jackals and preying black-eyed hawks; the legend never told of a small, golden bird with a seraphic voice and sad beautiful eyes.

Delighted, he took a step towards the bird, hands outstretched to pick it. But the little bird flapped its golden winds, flew a very short distance away to a low branch and perched. It kept singing even more melodious tunes. Totally lost, Obi crept forward again, cooing to the little bird of his unadulterated intentions. Each time he got close, the bird flew to another branch close enough for Obi to still see it and hear its seraphic tones but far enough that he had to creep even closer to get to it.

Little by little, in this manner, Obi unwittingly followed the singing bird into the depths of Okofia. At some point, the bird flew away without perching, leaving Obi to stand and watch with disappointment. It took a while but Obi soon realised he was lost… lost in the land of the spirits.

Depending on who was telling the story, from this point, the journey would either end in tragedy for Obi or something miraculous appear as a saving grace. It is irrelevant anyway, as the lesson is already clear. This story came to mind while I observed the recent confusion generated by the Lagos government’s ‘deportation’ of Igbo destitute to Anambra State. Barely had this been done than the ex-governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, released a statement condemning the action as unconstitutional and tribalistic. It remains unknown to us where Kalu got his information. But he, as a “champion” of the Igbo cause, proceeded to issue a seven-day ultimatum to Governor Babatunde Fashola to tender an apology to Igbo, failure of which he would sue the latter.

Enter self-acclaimed Achilles of the Yoruba, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, with the inevitable rebuttal. Fani-Kayode took us on a tour of the history of Nigeria and established that Yoruba remains the richest tribe in the country, historically and otherwise, while the Igbo still struggle to catch up. He proceeded to recount the generosity of the Yoruba, more than any other tribes, towards their Igbo patriots, drawing his instances from history, politics and war.

My analogy goes thus. Obi represents the Nigerian masses, men and women who are wrapped together and called citizens by perhaps fate, destiny, God or a combination of the three – depending on your belief. The firewood he had been sent to fetch is peace, stability, a future that is devoid of strife. Alas, the little bird continued to distract, leading him farther away from the dinner at home and into the deeper recesses of spirits’ land.

The higihaga and crinkum-crankum (apologies Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon) generated by the ‘melodious’ songs of little birds – in this case, Kalu and Fani-Kayode – have clouded the crux of the matter: which is the definition of indigeneship and citizenship in Nigeria.

In my humble opinion, the little birds have achieved their aim of cheap publicity – personally, I dug up and read as much of other similar delusional pieces written in the recent times by Fani-Kayode. To them, I say bravo. But to the ordinary men and women, who have allowed themselves to be degenerated by the little bird into a vulgar rabble-rouser on the social media and the likes, I say ‘focus’.

Right now, we should be asking: what does the Constitution say about indigeneship and citizenship? Was Fashola right constitutionally to ‘extradite’, relocate or deport full-fledged Nigerian natives based on their not being indigenes of Lagos State? Was his colleague, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State also right to sack – regardless of years of experience or level and without any compensation – all civil servants who were non-indigenes of his state a little over a year ago?

What would be the requirements to attain indigeneship of a state – stipulated years of residency, ownership of property, payment of tax or perhaps acquisition of the host state’s visa?

Rather than bother about the veracity of Fani-Kayode’s touted ‘long and intimate relationships’ with Igbo women or whether Chief Orji Kalu’s Lagos property was indeed cordoned off in retaliation to his threats, these are the matters we should be concerned about. Minus these men, I fail to see how the issue of the deportation based on non-indigeneship is a tribal matter, especially if there is truth in the reports that the Lagos government equally deported destitute to Oyo, Osun, Ogun and Kano states. A tendency to easily lose focus of priority when issues become muddled up will not help us attain freedom from self-serving leaders.

Obi must let the little bird sing and hop all it wants. He must pack up that stack of firewood and go home, otherwise the evening meal will forever remain unmade.

Chisom is a Corps member, NYSC Osogbo

September 5, 2013
Alleged libel: Fani-Kayode, Bianca poised for legal battle

Former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, yesterday expressed fresh regrets to Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, over his comment that they once had an ‘intimate relationship’ but said he would not want to say much for now on the issue to avoid embarrassing her.

Mrs. Ojukwu had threatened to sue Chief Fani-Kayode for suggesting that they were once lovers.

But the ex-minister, in a statement yesterday, said he had referred Mrs. Ojukwu’s letter to his lawyers who “will now take it up.”

The former minister, who spoke through his media aide, Mr. Bisi Lawal, said: “Ordinarily, he would not have said a word about this matter because he sympathises with her for whatever she may have been going through. However, now that she has put it in the public realm, Cheif Fani-Kayode is compelled to formally respond.

“ To the assertion that he never knew her and that they were never friends, he says this is false and he asks why would he lie? The public evidence is to the contrary. Chief Fani-Kayode would not want to say anything to embarrass her because that would be ungentlemanly.

“He sympathises with her delicate situation and once again, he expresses his regrets about the fact that his statement about her was misconstrued. We shall just leave it at that.”

Mrs. Ojukwu, in an advertorial on Wednesday, had said: “We have been briefed and our services retained by Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain to demand from you an unreserved apology and a retraction of a false and malicious statement, which you published online and also caused to be published in the Leadership newspaper of August 16, 2013.

“In the said article entitled, ‘Neither a Tribalist nor a Hater,’ you recklessly alleged, as follows: ‘I was not a tribalist when I had a long standing and intimate relationship with Miss Bianca Onoh…’, a statement, which you know is untrue and unfounded, but only calculated to lower our client’s esteem and damage her national and international reputation.”

August 31, 2013
Court halts Fani-Kayode’s prosecution over fiat confusion

Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court, Lagos, yesterday halted further proceedings in the trial of a former Aviation Minister Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who was accused of money laundering.

This followed confusion over the right of the prosecutor, Mr. Vitalis Ahaotu, to handle the case on behalf of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Fani-Kayode’s lawyer, Mr. Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), on June 6 observed that the charge, for which the accused was being tried, was signed by M.S. Hassan for and on behalf of the EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde.

He said rather than an EFCC lawyer prosecuting the case, Ahaotu, who is with the Festus Keyamo Chambers, has been appearing to prosecute the case.

Adedipe observed that under the 1999 Constitution, the Attorney-General of the Federation Mohammed Adoke (SAN), who is the Chief Law Officer, has control over criminal matters involving the Federal Government.

He said since Ahaotu was neither from the office of the Attorney-General nor from the EFCC, it would be necessary to enquire into how he came to prosecute the case.

Following the observation, Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia said she had to be properly guided to be sure of “a proper representation of the crown.”

She directed Ahaotu to file a written address within three days.

Adedipe also filed a reply to the address.

He said: “My Lord, assuming without conceding that Mr. Festus Keyamo was issued with a fiat to prosecute on behalf of the Attorney-General, we submit that he (Mr. Keyamo) does not have the power to donate such power to another, such as Mr. Ahaotu.”

The judge directed the court’s Deputy Chief Registrar to write Adoke within three days so that he could resolve the issue of who was given a fiat.

Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia adjourned till July 8 for mention.

June 26, 2013
Court disqualifies prosecutor from Fani-Kayode’s trial

Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of a Federal High Court, Lagos, on Tuesday disqualified Mr. Vitalis Ahaotu, the prosecutor in the trial of a former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, who is charged for money laundering.

The judge disqualified the prosecutor because he lacked the fiat (authority) of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to prosecute the case.

Ahaotu is a counsel in the firm of Festus Keyamo and Co., and was prosecuting the case on behalf of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The judge held that there was doubt as to whether the AGF had issued a fiat to the chambers of Keyamo to prosecute the case on its behalf.

“There is no doubt that the AGF has the power to issue a fiat to any lawyer to prosecute a case on his behalf, but the prosecutor has shown no evidence of delegation in this respect.

“The prosecutor claims it possesses the fiat of the AGF, when in fact it has not been exhibited before this honourable court.

“I hold that Ahaotu cannot continue to represent the Federal Republic of Nigeria in this case,” the judge said.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the court’s ruling followed the contention raised over whether the prosecution had the authority of the AGF to prosecute the former minister.

Mr. Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), representing the defendant, had on June 6, challenged the appearance of the prosecutor in the case.

Adedipe had argued that it was not clear whether Ahaotu was prosecuting on behalf of the Federal Government or the EFCC.

Immediately after the ruling, another counsel from the firm of Keyamo, Mr. Alexander Opako, had urged the court to fix a trial date, to enable his principal – Keyamo – appear personally.

The defence counsel, Mr. Wale Akoni (SAN), however, objected to this application.

Akoni noted that since the court had ruled that the prosecution had no fiat, the charge becomes incompetent.

June 25, 2013
2015: Jonathan ’ll divide Nigeria, says Fani-Kayode

A former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has alleged that President Goodluck Jonathan would attempt to split the country, if he does not win the 2015 general elections.

The former minister said the President has divided the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

He said the interference of the Presidency in the internal affairs and the subsequent division of the NGF were part of a game plan and a “clear indication that should President Goodluck Jonathan lose next election, he will plot for the division of the country”.

Fani-Kayode, who addressed reporters yesterday in Minna, the Niger State capital, wondered why a loser of an election would declare himself the winner because he enjoyed the backing of the Presidency, thereby splitting the NGF.

Fani-Kayide expressed optimism that opposition parties would terminate the continued reign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the next general elections.

The former minister, however, said the nation should prepare for a possible attempt to split the country when the PDP government fails at the poll.

He said: “It is only in Nigeria that a loser with the backing of the Presidency can declare himself the winner, leading to the splitting of NGF. This is a prerequisite for 2015. When the President is defeated, he will declare himself winner, the same way it happened in the NGF. He will try to split the country the same way he did to the NGF.”

June 25, 2013
Military should crush Boko Haram, says Fani- Kayode

A former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, yesterday said the military should be asked to crush Boko Haram members instead of granting them amnesty.

Fani-Kayode, who made this suggestion in a statement in Abuja, said this is a war against terror and it ought to be prosecuted as such.

He said: “The call on the Federal Government by the Sultan of Sokoto to grant Boko Haram amnesty is misplaced and ill-conceived. I am in total agreement with the position adopted by CAN and Mr President on this issue and I am relieved that the call has been rejected.

“The suggestion that a group of people that have slaughtered 4000 Nigerians in cold blood in the space of two years should be granted amnesty is completely untenable and unacceptable.

“It is also dangerous and counter-productive. This is all the more so when the group has no face and has refused to identify itself or its leaders and when it has not entered into a ceasefire or laid down its arms. “No sensible or responsible government can offer amnesty to a group of people that are butchering its citizens at will and whose evil tendencies are unprecedented in the history of our country.”

Fani-Kayode called for outright military action against the sect members.

He added: “You do not grant amnesty to such people. Instead you take off the gloves, remove all sense of restraint and allow the Nigerian military to do their job and crush them.

“This is a war against terror and it ought to be prosecuted as such. The great Kamal Attaturk did the same thing to the terrorists and Islamic fundamentalists that troubled his country Turkey many years ago.”

March 10, 2013
Fani-Kayode re-arraigned

A former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode was yesterday re-arraigned on a 47-count charge of money laundering before the Federal High Court, Lagos.

Fani-Kayode, who was arraigned before Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, pleaded not guilty to the charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He was first arraigned on the same charge on December 23, 2008 before Justice Ramat Mohammed. His trial had begun before Justice Mohammed before it was stalled owing to an interlocutory appeal by the EFCC.

The case was re-assigned to Justice Binta Nyako because the former judge was also transferred out of Lagos Division.

In February last year, Fani-Kayode was re-arraigned before Nyako, and the judge was also transferred out of Lagos late last year.

Yesterday, upon pleading to the charge, the ex-minister’s lawyer, Ladi Williams, SAN, (who led the defence team) urged the judge to grant his client bail in the same conditions and terms given by Justice Mohammed, which he had satisfied.

Prosecution lawyer, Nelson Okedinachi, did not object, following which the judge granted the bail application.

Wale Babalakin, Wale Akoni and Ifedayo Adedipe (all Senior Advocates) were also in the defence team.

Later in the proceedings, Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia queried the competence of the charge. The judge said the charge ought to be amended for being wrongly drafted.

She claimed that the charge did not conform with the new Money Laundering Act, having been brought under the old Money Laundering Act.

The Judge said: “On the face of the charge, there is the need for you to amend it. I will not want to entertain any frivolous amendment in the future. I don’t understand what you mean by the wife is at large.

“You know there is a new Money Laundering Act and you know the calibre of lawyers on the other side. So, are you going to amend and put the accused person through one more, but last ordeal of re-arraignment?”

Okedinachi insisted that the charge was competent and that the prosecution was not contemplating amending the charge. The former minister was accused of laundering about N230m through some of his aides, his wife, Regina and daughter, Remilekun between August 2006 and March 2007. Trial has been fixed for March 11.

February 12, 2013
Court picks February 11 for Fani-Kayode’s trial

A Federal High Court, Lagos, on Thursday fixed February 11 next year for the commencement of trial of a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode.

The accused is facing a 47-count charge of money laundering, contrary to the money laundering (prohibition) Act, 2004.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the trial, which was slated to begin on Thursday before Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, could not go on due to the absence of the trial judge.

NAN learnt that the absence of the judge was due to the on-going judges’ conference which is being attended by Federal High Court judges.

Ofili-Ajumogobia is the new trial judge assigned to replace Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako, who was transferred from the Lagos division of the Federal High Court.

She becomes the third trial judge to handle the matter.

Fani-Kayode’s re-arraignment before Justice Murtala-Nyako followed the transfer of Justice Ramat Mohammed, who was the first trial judge to handle the matter.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges and had been admitted to bail.

NAN recalls that at the last hearing of the matter before Murtala-Nyako on April 24, Mr. Chris Uche (SAN), counsel to the accused, had prayed the court to stay further proceedings in the matter.

He urged the court to stay proceedings pending the determination of an appeal filed at the Supreme Court.

November 22, 2012