WHO IS AFRAID OF CHIEF FEMI FANI-KAYODE BY Iyke Nwambie I read Chief Femi Fani-Kayode’s latest outburst against Ndigbo yesterday and could not help laughing for the better part of the day. I laughed at the nothingness in his submissions, I quacked at the hollowness in his attempts to show that he is not an Igbo-hater, and I almost choked when he described the amazing set of species known as Ndigbo (who bounced-back to reckoning within the Nigerian economic zone from a paltry hand-off of 20 pounds from the Nigerian government after the war) to be collectively unlettered, uncouth, uncultured, unrestrained and crude in all their ways” I recall that I had earlier posted a seven-point rejoinder to his previous venomous description of Ndigbo which show-cased the zero-point in his logic and eroded the very premise of his presentation, I knew that he would not respond, not because the rejoinder was not up to par like he alluded , not because the rejoinder attempted to destroy his person, but because it showed the baselessness of his own arguments, it showed the wastage of time and effort in trying to let us know who owns Lagos, when he, himself is not an owner of Lagos, but according to him a half-Lagosian! (And what does being a half-Lagosian mean?) He took time off to give a couple of reasons why he is not an Igbo-hater, and they seem to go like this: 1. That he wrote a tribute to Ojukwu at his demise. May I remind Chief Fani-Kayode that, that is not an indication of being an Igbo lover either, because even the greatest haters of Ojukwu also took time out to do the same when that enigma of a mortal passed on. They said how, ” he was this great and that marvelous.” They even got so close to praising him for the war that he was forced to lead against his love and passion for one Nigeria. Then to prove that Chief Fani-Kayode had little respect for that doyen of the Igbo race, he so ridiculously emphasized how knowing his wife, Bianca Ojukwu, intimately before she got married to Dim Ojukwu was another point to show that he was not an Igbo hater. Hmmnn…at that point I checked my laughter gauge, and almost wanted to borrow a leaf from those who had deduced a diagnosis of affective-disorder as a probable cause for these submissions. 2. But when I took a second look at his reason for not being an Igbo-hater, which had to do with his condemnation of the pogrom of Ndigbo in the North, that one seemed a bit rationale and I concluded that it might not be a case of affective disorder but a case of an inherent ability to co-ordinate seemingly disjointed occurrences. And that is because he had already shot himself on the toe in his previous essay, where he alluded to the opinion that Ndigbo (the same ones who suffered the pogrom that he condemned) were the ones who killed over a million Nigerians and attempted to take their land in the war. But take note, that over three million people died in that war…but his emphasis on the fact that Ndigbo killed over a million of them in Nigeria, showed where his real sympathy tilted. May I remind Chief Fani-Kayode that Ndigbo do not major or fancy those who attempt to dangle a carrot of sympathy in their face. They say what they mean per time, and do what they have said per time. 3. Chief Fani-Kayode also adduced the reason that he had written in time past to encourage Ndigbo and other tribes on the need for self-determination if they wanted to, as a point to show that he does not hate Ndigbo. And a candid question for him would be: “did Ndigbo need his encouragement when they attempted the first one? As a matter of fact, he should keep that encouragement for others, especially those who do not have the heart to follow-up on their words like some leaders of note did during the war. Please note that, the average Igbo man believes in the concept of a one Nigeria as propounded by the great Zik of Africa ( a man ChiefFFK said was the originator of tribalism in Nigeria, but who in reality is one of the greatest nationalists that Nigeria has ever known) That is why he settles down so easily in any part of Nigeria. For instance, when I schooled and lived in Lagos, I saw Igbos everywhere, when I did my NYSC in Maiduguri, Borno state, I saw Igbos everywhere, even now that I live in Miami, Florida, I still see Igbos everywhere…and that is because they are free-flowing-easy-going-hardworking-people. 4. He also said that Ndigbo chose to insult great Yoruba leaders like Awo, Akintola etc each time because they told them the truth. And I beg to differ on that one. Please, note, Chief Fani-Kayode, that it was Dim Ojukwu who rescued the greatest Yoruba politician till date, in the person of Chief Obafemi Awolowo from Enugu prison when he was incarcerated for treasonable felony, and it was the same Dim Ojukwu (the unquestionable Igbo leader of all time) who wrote at the death of Awo, that “this is the best president Nigeria never had.” May I ,therefore, say that when Igbos criticize Chief Awo, the few times they do, they do it from the angle of his inconsistencies and double play. For instance, after Ojukwu had released him from prison, he (Awo) addressed a rally a few months after at Ibadan, where he openly warned the Gowon-led government to listen and attend to the grievances of Ndigbo, if not, if he (Gowon) allows Ndigbo to secede, they the Yorubas will follow suit. Then as soon as Gowon offered him the post of Finance commissioner (which is the equivalent of today’s Finance minister), Chief Awo shocked everyone by accepting that position contrary to his earlier criticisms of a military regime. That is the reason why his other followers like the action man of Lagos state, Lateef Kayode Jakande and Ebenezer Babatope etc gladly accepted to serve in the Abacha junta and those were decisions those gentlemen were to regret later! 5. Chief Fani-Kayode in his attempt to portray Ndigbo as a bunch of people who cannot address topical issues in a national debate, lamented that Ndigbo chose to attack his person instead of the issues that he had raised in his article. May I remind Chief Fani-Kayode, that it was the great Socrates who said and I quote: “That for a man’s logos(logical argument) to make sense, his ethos (character of the speaker) must match his pathos (passion and feeling)” In other words, the messenger must have a commensurate character to match his message. And that is why the first response people give to a man who talks disconnectedly is to say, “don’t mind him…he is not a man of his words” Take note that, the first phrase is that of not “minding” him, because it is assumed that something must be wrong with him in some way in his mind. So, it is because of the shocker that a one-time minister of culture, who ought to be propagating the Nigerian culture could be seen to be propagating a Yoruba culture on the altar of tribalism. It is because of the shocker that the son of a prominent Yoruba man (Fani-Power) who opposed the greatest Yoruba leader in the person of Awo during his lifetime can turn around in this melodrama of playing the Yoruba hero. It is because of the shocker that a man can advertise his having carnal knowledge of some prominent Igbo married women as a pointer that he is not a tribalist. It is because a man can so brazenly attack the fearless people of Igboland, and call them names like unlettered, uncultured, a people without history etc It is because a man who wanted to tell us the origin of Lagos state, chose to begin in the middle. He ought to have began from when Lagos was under the the Benin empire…that, amongst many, is why such a man will receive what he asked for. It is because a man who, himself , is not a Lagosian, but freely and proudly calls himself a half-Lagosian will in turn call others strangers and allude that they are taking their land, a land which he does not own himself, because he is simply, a half-Lagosian and not a full-blooded Lagosian! 6. Also, we have a proverb amongst Ndigbo which says, “when a man cooks a delicacy for a crowd, the crowd will readily finish the food with joy and without constipation, but when the crowd cooks for that same man, that man will suffer from constipation and diarrhea put together, because his stomach is too small to eat that quantity of food from the crowd.” So, will Chief Fani-Kayode be ready to eat as many food as Ndigbo will be more than willing to present to him? will he be able to sustain the macabre dance he has chosen to dance? will he still have the guts to beat his chest tomorrow and feel good? The answers to those questions are best left for him to answer 7. Finally, I will take the liberty to post a link to my earlier rejoinder to Chief Fani-Kayode’s previous essay, so that you can see if his insinuation that Ndigbo are afraid to join issues with him, is a fact to run home with. I know for sure that I fear no one, and the average Igbo man fears no one, not even a million Chief Femi Fani-Kayodes rolled into one. Thank you and God bless! pastoriykenwambie/current-affairs-the-fault-in-chief-femi-fani-kayodes-logic-on-the-igbos-by-iyke-nwambie/
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:31:35 +0000
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