Home OPINION COLUMNISTS Femi Fani-Kayode’s Projects That Collapsed, By Yusuf Ozi-Usman

Femi Fani-Kayode’s Projects That Collapsed, By Yusuf Ozi-Usman

Femi-Fani Kayode
Femi-Fani Kayode

I will expose Buhari! This was the word by which the former Nigeria minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode made an entry into his new office as Director of Media and Publicity for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organization a couple of weeks ago.
Many people did not take it serious that Femi Fani-Kayode had prepared strong ground not only to “expose” the Presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, but also to embarrass him and probably push him out of the Presidential contest.
As a matter of fact, Fani-Kayode was sure that the home-work he had done on his “projects” would eventually get General Buhari out of the contest for the February 14 Presidential election, which his principal, President Goodluck Jonathan, would easily clinch on platter of gold.
One is right to now imagine that as a precursor to the “expose” projects which Fani-Kayode promised, was for him to make sure that his team worked on the Nigeria Army for the system to carefully remove the certificate of General Buhari from his file in the Army which he served meritoriously for more than four decades.
The second method of “expose” projects was for Fani-Kayode to dispatch his hatchet men and perhaps women to the field, to design a medical report from his own version of Ahmadu Bello Teaching Hospital which was cleverlessly done (as the real thing is Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital), “exposing” the prostate cancer ravaging his victim, General Buhari. He got his gullible fellow travellers, including the overzealous governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose, in the excitement, to the extent that the governor was already imagining that Buhari would be dead in matter of days. He went public, paying thousands of Naira, the public fund, to feature advertisement of the impending death of the General in national newspapers. Other foot-soldiers, like what one writer called “the internet warriors” went wild on the net and social media, echoing Fani-Kayode’s imaginary sickness on Buhari. It is strange and frightening that a man, who is healthy and knows that he is healthy, would be declared sick by another person, morbidly pursuing and being committed to the course.
Fani-Kayode launched, simultaneously, the war on the secondary school certificate of General Buhari. This was irrespective of the fact that the General had since sworn an affidavit in a nation’s court of law, declaring the original of his credentials, including the secondary school certificate missing. This was irrespective of the fact that General Buhari contested the same Presidential election in 2003, 2007 and 2011 with such affidavit, which is recognized in the Nigerian statute book.
Tragically, the army where he spent the major part of his youth and adult life serving, kowtow to the forces of plot to shoot down General Buhari who rose through the ranks by a dint of hard work, loyalty, discipline and above all, trainings in various countries.
Indeed, in executing the projects, Fani-Kayode and his team or sponsors succeeded in helping the Nigeria Army to throw its age old integrity into the mud.
This becomes obvious when one looks at the bare-faced, transparent lie built into the manner the spokesman of the Nigeria Army; Brigadier General Olaleye addressed the issue of Buhari’s certificate.
Even a three year old kindergarten boy or girl would cry in scorn, at the statement by the Nigeria Army that General Buhari filled a form, as he was being commissioned into the service in 1961: that he had five credits in the relevant subjects and a pass in English Literature but that “neither the original nor the photocopy of the certificate was in his file.”
Having been so embarrassed and left almost in the cold, General Buhari had to ask his Alma Mata, the erstwhile Katsina Provincial Secondary School to oblige him the original of his 1961 certificate, which the Principal of the school issued within 12 hours. Beyond that, the former Nigeria Inspector General of police, Ibrahim Coomasie and other Nigerians who had held respectful positions and served the nation diligently testified to the fact that General Buhari was their class mate at the Katsina Provincial Secondary School; that they completed their studies in the school in 1961. And that while he, Coomasie went to join police force, General Buhari went to join Nigeria Army and others went their different ways.
What the Nigeria Army, Fani-Kayode and his foot soldiers implied by insisting that General Buhari’s certificate was forged was that while the school issued genuine certificates to ex-IGP Coomasie and others, it went ahead to issue General Buhari forged certificate or did not issue him the certificate at all. Another implication is that Nigerians should not have confidence in affidavit issued by court to anybody.
In all these, what Fani-Kayode had displayed was pure impunity, political dis-ingenuity, and dangerous fixation, medieval knowledge, mixed with ignorance.
In fact, from the picture Fani-Kayode drew in his mind which has remained indelibly fixed, irrespective of other evidences that defeated such picture: these two projects, if they were to work his way, would have successfully made rigorous campaign a non-issue for his employer, President Jonathan. The success of the projects would have cleared the coast for him to ride back to Aso Rock.
Of course, no one denies the fact that Fani-Kayode was able to recruit some people, especially, “the Internet Warriors” to launch the two frontal attacks that really shook the Buhari campaign boat and even the nation. The projects, in all sincerity, were crafted with the background of medieval civilization but, for some days, they put the nation on the edge.
However, seeing that he has lost out in the kite he flew, and fearing the bigger loss awaiting him if General Buhari wins the Presidential election on February 14 (Barrister Keyamo reminded him recently that his case, of criminal money laundry was still pending in court) from where he was appointed by PDP, not to launder the image of President Jonathan and PDP, but to destroy General Buhari, Fani-Kayode continues to fight Buhari, long after everybody has turned back in shame.
Fani-Kayode needs to be woken, by those who still admire him, especially those who followed him to the battle ground, from his nightmare or day-dream, of pulling down General Buhari or even anybody.

That his back is already on the ground! [myad]

1 COMMENT

  1. Jonathan as a person means well for his fatherland but the kind of people he is surrounded with are the people leading astray.Just the way they are all running their mouth in the name campaign..Take for instance, the just concluded National Confab was uncalled for and billions of naira went down the drain.It should have come up at least two or three years ago.

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