I read the news of the defection of the former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani Kayode to the ruling party, APC with rapt attention. I was highly surprised that Kayode who was an ardent critic of APC and a traducer of General (and now) President Buhari can decamp to his party, the party which he had vowed to die rather than joining, “the suggestion that l joined the APC is false and insulting. Those that are peddling the false news should bury their heads in shame. With what we have witnessed, l would rather die than join a filthy, rat infested, sinking ship like the Almajiri People’s Congress, APC”. Save Chief Ebenezer Babatope who had onion to grind with Buhari whose military government detained Babatope in 1984 and who campaigned vigorously against Buhari candidacy, Kayode was another voice who took Buhari to the cleaners. How on earth Kayode joined a party he had declared as that of Boko Haram is a puzzle to me. The Chief has denied that financial considerations forced him to the party. But how will a man of integrity eat his vomit? That President Buhari personally welcome Kayode to the party, despite the hate speech against his person and party shows that there are more to Kayode’s defection than the eyes can see and l will shed lights on that shortly. There is no doubt that Nigeria’s development is stiffled because it is governed by politicians without principle and ironically, this is one of the factors given by the former leader of India, Mahatma Ghandi as factors that ruin a nation. The other factor is wealth without work. Any need to belabour oneself looking for the reasons for Nigeria’s stunted growth? That Kayode defects to the ruling party is not the main issue but with the diatribe he had made against the party in the past and the party still opening its door for such demagogue to sit with the President whom he had called names is the issue. Had President Buhari lost 2015 election, would Kayode have joined the party today? It is a fact that there is no permanent enemy in politics but permanent interest. Yes, but one should mind the company one keeps to be taken serious. Keeping the company of unprincipled and chameleonic politicians could be counter productive for a party in a saner clime but not in Nigeria where people’s votes hardly count. APC has actually shown its true colour as a haven of unscrupulous politicians and former political office holders having cases of graft with EFCC. Many sought refuge from prosecution in the ruling party whose campaign song was fight against corruption. Many today are senators of the Federal Republic courtesy of APC. President Buhari needs to be reminded of the derogatory comments of Kayode against him when he was the Director General of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organisation in the build up to 2015 general election, to enable us know the company of the man he is keeping. In the Nigerian Tribune of Sunday, December 21, 2014, Kayode advised the then Vice Presidential candidate of the APC and now the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osibajo to reject his candidature. That was not all. Kayode gave reasons for his advice but there were obnoxious and derogatory remarks about General Buhari as he then was. I kept that write-up because I was among those who wrote rejoinders against the said article through the same medium. Condemning Buhari/Osibajo ticket, Kayode had stated, “A respected pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, a devout and committed Christian and an intelectually sound, well bred and well educated Professor of Law accepts to be running mate to a fundamentalist, a blood thirsty tyrant, cruel and murderous military dictator and a die-hard believer in the philosophy pf born to rule ? This is serious.” Writing further, Kayode emphasized that “A learned Professor of Law and a senior member of the Nigerian Bar who is the leading authority on the law of evidence and has written numerous books on that topic chooses to play number two to a man that failed all his exams at Military College and that never went to a decent school or to any university? Jumping Jehosaphat?”. Kayode did not stop at that on Buhari, “Boko Haram abducted 185 women in Borno on December 18th (2014) and they killed no less than 52 innocent people. Despite that some people are still supporting Buhari and his army of desperate Haramites. Did he not say that it was his intention to spread Sharia throughout the country and that an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the North? Did he not oppose a state of emergency in the north eastern states and say that it was unfair for the the military to kill Boko Haram members? Did he not say that instead of killing them, they should be forgiven and pampered and treated in the same way that Niger Delta militants were treated? Did the spokesperson of his party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed not say that the proscription of Boko Haram by the Federal Government was ‘unjust and unconstitutional?'” That was the vintage Fani Kayode in 2014 now hobnobbing with the person and party he verbally assassinated in 2014! In all honesty, Kayode is a brilliant person with high oratorical prowess. He is a good analyst and the one that can see the future. All he wrote about Buhari is manifesting in our eyes today. As a matter of fact, instead of joining APC, he should have brought out this article and told Nigerians that he warned them against voting Buhari in view of the security challenges and disunity in the country today (which Kayode said he joined APC to tackle with like minds), he would have received accolades for seeing into the future and keeps his head high. However, the hen has come home to roost. I want to believe that President Buhari read the article mentioned above in 2014 but he now has a hatchet job for his number one critic. Kayode pointed to this job in his above mentioned article ” is there any one they will not defile, pervert, violate and corrupt in their ignoble quest for power?” My conclusion is that the south as a whole and especially presidential hopefuls in the APC should get ready for an epic battle for the soul of APC and Nigeria as 2023 elections draw near. There are many political mercenaries in the south, who specialise in doing hatchet jobs for the north, men and women who can sell their mothers for mess of porridge. Kayode’s defection to the APC is the beginning of the recruitment of such people into the grand plan of the hegemonists to retain power in the north at all cost in 2023 or impose a surrogate that would protect the gains of Buhari years in the north post 2023. I pray posterity proves me wrong.
Adegbite sends this piece via ayekooto05@gmail.com.
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