Friends of former Minister of Aviation and current chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Femi Fani-Kayode are yet to overcome the shock the suffered by his visit to President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday.
Though Fani-Kayode has said he has not left the APC for the PDP, many of his friends on social media are uncomfortable, and have taken to Twitter and Facebook to insult him.
While some of them accused him of betraying his party, others said he is never consistent and that they have expected him to return to the PDP where he would join the looters of the country.
Some called him a mole that must have been planted in APC to get the party’s strategies ahead of the 2015 elections, saying he must have visited President Jonathan to brief him of some of these strategies.
They also said they did not believe he was not planning to dump the APC. One of his loyalists who used a nickname, called him a disappointment, saying Fani-Kayode’s recently-released result shows that he has satisfied the bidding of those who sent him.
“Nigerians are no longer getting concerned about religion. It is our politicians that are provoking us with issues of religion”, he wrote.
“Muslim/Muslim candidate for Presidency and Vice-Presidency has happened before during the time of Moshood Abiola and Babangana Kingibe. So why is Fani-Kayode latching on this as a reason for taking a bitter fight against his party?”
Fani-Kayode had visited the president in Aso Rock, holding a closed-door meeting with him. After the meeting, the ‘repented’ former staunch critic of the president called Jonathan a responsible President, telling State House Correspondents that the reason he is angry with his party is its decision to feature two Muslim candidates for Presidency and Vice-Presidency at the 2015 presidential elections.
But for many of those who think they understand him and his actions, he is just looking for an issue to rest his plan on while he lives to take a position in the Jonathan administration.
Some also said he should not think his defection would make the government discourage the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from prosecuting him.
For example, Okunola Sheriff, one of his friends, said: “The legendary liar and attention-seeker has again joined the looting party”; while Athur Falayi said: “I still don’t know why anybody would be shocked by Fani-Kayode’s action”.
Segun Olatunji said: “President Goodluck Jonathan has got himself a new poster boy in Fani-Kayode. [I’m] not really surprised at this turn of event”.
According to Jolly Segun, “the thought of supporting Goodluck Jonathan as a way of getting off the hook of the EFCC is an illusion. You will end up a bad looser and remain a bootlicker”.
Abbey Akintayo expressed his disappointment, saying: “Fani-Kayode was almost becoming a role model for disgruntled youths of Nigeria”.
For Abdul Hasib Suenu, he expressed happiness that Fani-Kayode finally returned to where he really belongs.
“Happy stay with your colleagues in looting. You’re worse than Reuben Abati”, he said.
Temmy Hamzat said: “thank God for his defection to PDP. Looter claiming to represent Christians”, while Ahmed Ibrahim, said 90 per cent of Nigeria’s politicians are like Fani-Kayode. “They all have two faces and are also bigots”, he concluded.
Tolu Egbeyemi said Fani-Kayode is “a liability who people all know while Segun Tomori described him as a “political jobber” who is “consistently inconsistent”.
Meanwhile, it was observed that Fani-Kayode yanked off all negative comments following his visit to the president.
To further convince some people, he copied links of different media that have published his articles. He also explained some circumstances where he needed to make clarification. He further commended and thanked all those who spoke in support of him.
One of the groups that supported him is the APC YOUTH SUPPORT ,which said: “We share your view. APC mustn’t be allowed to commit political suicide before the election. Reality is practical politicking”.
However, Fani Kaoyde has denied report that has defected to the PDP.
In his words:“I have not left the APC. If I ever choose to leave the party I will let the Nigerian public know and I will give my reasons. This has not happened. I was at the Villa the other day and what transpired there has been the subject of much online speculation. What I said to the media whilst there was very clear and I chose my words very carefully. Let those that are interested read those words in the newspapers rather than speculate. Other than that I will say no more on this matter until I am ready to do so.
A few days ago all the APC governors from the south west were in the State House where they held a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan. What they discussed has not been made public until now. Does that make them PDP governors? The Presidency belongs to every Nigerian irrespective of religious and political persuasions.
Again General Buhari was recently honoured by the same President Jonathan during the centenary celebration which the APC did not support. Does that mean he has joined the PDP?
Again the ongoing Federal Government confab has some APC chieftains participating in it despite the fact that the party is against it. Does that mean that they have left the APC? People should get real and stop speculating.
Meanwhile Biodun Ishola Ladepo wrote ”If I were Femi Fani-Kayode and my party planned to field a Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket, especially in the age of Boko Haram, I would bolt faster than Hussein Bolt”. I am glad that someone is seeing things clearly.
This is not about leaving parties but about principle. Let us hope that the leadership of the APC sees fit to clarify this matter at the soonest and assure us all that they will do no such thing. Their silence on the matter and their refusal to rule it out is simply fuelling more speculation and dissent from within. When I say this I am speaking for many within the party leadership who have chosen to remain silent for obvious reasons.”
