"Chief David Oluwafemi Adewunmi Abdulateef Fani-Kayode is the least of any Yorubaman to cast any form of aspersion on Igbo contributions to the development of Lagos State, for he is not of original Yoruba protegy. He cannot identify his line of ancestry beyond his great-grand father Reverand Emmanuel Adedapo kayodes, a Nupe Sierra Leonean captive of the British Anti-Slavery squad from a Portuguese Slave merchant vessel of the coast of Dahomey. Reverend Emmanuel Kayode was eventually adopted as a house-boy by Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther who gave him Yoruba names and subsequently trained him up to Fourah Bay College, Freetown and enlisted him as an Anglican Priest. Reverend kayode, in line with the tradition of the Saro-Yoruba of the time, subsequently adopted Ife as his ancestral home in a bid to historically confirm his new Yoruba identity. But his father Chief Victor Babaremilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode, fully aware of the artificiality of his Yoruba identity later identified the Nupe town of Pategi in the present Niger State as his Grand-father’s ancestral home after he had disrespectfully confronted Chief Obafemi Awolowo in Public and the latter had politely reminded him of his Nupe ancestry. It was in reaction to this obvious revelation by Chief Obafemi Awolowo that he resorted to naming his children after some prominent members of his Nupe family, hence “Abdulateef”, a purely Muslim name was given to his son Femi. The same tradition of Muslim name was applied to Femi’s elder brother who died a number of years ago. It this fact is not on the line of history, let Chief Femi Kayode explain to Nigerians the source of his Muslim name when he claims a pedigree of traditional Christian family, especially when even his mother had strong Christian family background" Excerpts from:. FEMI FANI KAYODE - Haunted By A Nupe Ancestry- Fighting A Foggy Yoruba Identity Complex By Dr. N. Tony Nwaezeigwe, Senior Research Fellow Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 22:04:21 +0000
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