Distraction is FFK

I took the time to respond to Mr. Fani-Kayode on his Twitter page. I was late, over 400 retweets had gone out by the time I responded. But, I just discovered no one posted comment after I did! Little wonder he blocked my handle. Ko dun mi rara sa… It’s a right we all have. Thankfully the internet is world-wide-web and it will take much more than a click to block anyone.

When I saw that “son” thing yesterday, following wide evil promotion by naij, I knew exactly where it would lead! As a Public Affairs Analyst I saw the propaganda coming and quickly reached my colleagues... But for the fact that naij is set up with sinister motive, the emphasis of the initial story should have been on brother.

We have had Presidents and Vice Presidents, who were at each other’s throat. Governors and Deputies, who could not even complete their term in office together. The relationship between President Buhari and Acting President Osinbajo should have been a welcome development but we must understand that wailers are not used to the harmonious #CHANGE @AsoRock!

I really wonder why folks are up in arms! Neither naij who published the nonsense allusion nor FFK mean well for Nigeria! Serious national issues are being deliberated upon and we focus destructively and continue to feed negative propaganda motivated by ill will.

Naij! From inception, I knew exactly what this site was about and BLOCKED the use of its link on forums I oversee. Many are not fooled about the fact that naij is a junk site. But to their credit, they have mastered Nigerians so well as to create trolls that bait many to help them drive traffic and increase income for their sponsors. It was Femi Fani-Kayode who made the baseless statement but naij as usual was complicit in whipping it up for maximum fluff. Since naij’s principle is wrapped around junk and junkies, I won’t waste my time addressing it.

Rather, I’ll address Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode who proudly noted on his Twitter page that he is a former Minister of Culture. Mr. Femi, you go to a junk site (that is bad in itself as it tells me who feeds you knowledge), you pick out a phrase out of serious context and smear it with unfounded allusion! It would not have mattered if you never took an oath of office that included patriotism and nationalism, civic responsibility that should make you cautious. How so sad that a former Minister of Culture will deteriorate to the point of creating disunity within a country in which he is supposed to play the role of unifier!

While you were Minister, Architect Namadi Sambo called Mrs. Patience Jonathan mother, you smiled. Mr. Goodluck Jonathan referred to IBB as father, you giggled. Then what changed? Did your sense of nationality or patriotism change when the leadership of the country changed?

Prof. Osinbajo is such a gentleman and would rather not waste time responding to you. If he did, the swipe would be on him for taking time out of his schedule to attend to frivolities. He is too busy working assiduously to know you are ranting about a non-issue! We all should be busy supporting and encouraging #Osinbajo instead of lazily helping you grow followership on social media, which has become your real home.

No vex sir, but it seems you lack the true understanding of humility and the concept of respect, which is something Nigerians especially the Yorubas stand out for. You do not appreciate the essential value of gracious words seasoned with salt, spoken in due season. The people of Katsina do. Those words coming from a man who chose to honour them in the absence of their worthy son of the soil mattered much to them.

It’s not your first… Those who have the love of country at heart can search out how many times you have used this yellow card of distraction. You continue to distract unsuspecting Nigerians from SERIOUS issues. Just yesterday while this nonsense was breaking, Senate was deliberating on padded budget! Just yesterday O’oduwa chided you over statements that could lead to sedition!

Of course as a Yoruba man you know exactly what Acting President Osinbajo was talking about but in the wake of your meeting with Nnamdi Kanu and the necessity of creating a distraction that pitches you on his side, you like a newly investitured cult member must throw an iron in the wheel of progress.

Father-Son type of relationship the VP refers to is definitely not based on age. Prof. Aboaba is older than Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye but refers to him as “Father in the Lord”. Yet, they are friends with one having spiritual oversight on the other... President Buhari earned the name “Sai Baba” during the campaign. One of the Acting President’s friends called him Baba Yemo. Baba means Father, so literally Father Yemo, was he his father in the sense of biology, no. It was for them an allusion to mutual respect as he in turn called him as such. Of course you know this but distraction is FFK.

The statement as many sensible well meaning people decoded is from the perspective of humility on the part of Acting President and the respect he has earned from the President. It was weighed as such and well accepted by those he addressed. Ewo wa ni tiyin?

It irks me that someone who was called to a position of leadership and who knows the weight of goodwill will envision to drag a more credible, more honourable and just leader in appearance of smoke through baseless allegory. 

At 39, my younger sister Olufikayo Famuyiwa had grand mothers who called her “Mummy wa”, those her age or older called her “Mummy No Dulling”. She in the service of the Lord took charge and cared for all as a mother would do. Following the transition of my Mum, I became a Matriarch and did not only earn the “grandma” title but carried out responsibilities as such.

If a father feeds you the bottle; that does not mean all sons are so regarded by their fathers. Many 60 year olds who are fortunate to still have fathers and are considered responsible are allowed to drive their fathers. A lawyer I met in the USA in explaining the measure of trust he has in a 25year old who works for him said, “He's merely a son [in reference to age], but if I have a case, I'll be confident to let him represent me!”

I have read the comments on your page... How many people who backlashed you will you block? Despite so many backlashes, naij who remains crazy for traffic and posts even porn on its site, still pushed for response via its Facebook and warned subtly that response will appear on its site! Still, most are slaps and kicks against a man who deserve everything more for daring to play on the intelligence of Nigerians.

Concerned O’oduwa Progressive Youth Assembly (COPYA) only yesterday warned about your statement urging our Acting President to be sworn-in as substantive President. Your call was described as “a campaign of calumny against the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration... likely FFK’s own way of ensuring he is regarded as a Yoruba voice after having turned the Federal Government against leaders in the region… aimed at pitching the Yoruba in government against other ethnic groups in the country.”

The leader went on to say, “We are therefore warning that FFK and his likes are distracting the Vice President who assiduously goes about his duties as assigned to him by his boss, President Buhari. The recent issues raised by FFK in his incoherent response to a constitutional issue as regards President Buhari’s letter, as transmitted to the National Assembly, is clearly to cast the Vice President, who is now the Acting President, as a desperate person.”

The Acting President made the statement whipped by naij to the Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumini Kabir Usman who welcomed him “home”. When I visited Kaduna in the wake of the campaign win, Mrs. Buhari personally brought us food even to the Guest House! I bet she will not recognise me if we were to meet again. Yet she said then that culturally as her guests, we were visiting her home and she had to entertain us with home cooked food. Mr. Fani-Kayode, we are a people with culture coated with courtesy.

How did you miss below from the story:

Giving an insight on the personal and official relationships he has shared with the President, Prof. Osinbajo disclosed that “…the President has been treating me as a brother... Continuing the Acting President noted that going by the amount of responsibilities President Buhari has given me, it shows that he seriously believes that we can live as brothers in this country. He seriously believes in the unity of Nigeria. I pray the Lord will preserve our President to continue to lead us just as the nation has voted him to do.”

Dear FFK, whether you like it or not, our dear President Mohammadu Buhari is as today May 12 stands the Father of Nigeria! This makes you his son too! It’s a federal family bond... Lobatan. It is for a reason we call the Wife of President, First Lady; on assumption of that role they become the First Parents of the nation. You now could decide to be a real son or an illegitimate one. The choice is entirely yours.

You spread this nonsense like wild fire to distract from national issues and I begin to wonder, was this a carefully planned propaganda to distract Nigerians from the serious issues going on at the Senate, money-miss road wedding at Minna, cyber attack dragging down countries or emergence of Ebola in DRC or even your public display of affiliation with Kanu… How much could have been worth your throwing your weight behind such baseless allegory capable of misdirecting Nigerians?

Even if Acting President Osinbajo said he relates with him as his friend, someone pointed out, you will still have issues. While another suggested that you should consider not talking too much as your views are no longer sensible that is to the sensible minds and this has no doubt cost you loss of the very thing we cherish most as Yorubas - RESPECT.

Indeed, you have become a tool of distraction for the mythical cabal that is fast showing their existence through people like you.

#Change is here. Accept it, believe it, cooperate with it.