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The race was dicey up till that point. The odds were stacked in Jonathan’s favor as incumbent with keys to the nation’s treasury. While progressives were set on battle and ready for a fight to finish, analysts still suggested that the ruling PDP party would likely win. But this changed on the fateful day that then president Goodluck Jonathan chose the one and only Femi Fani-Kayode, FFK now known as Olu Kayode as his campaign spokesman.
Choosing FFK was the nail that sealed Jonathan’s fate. Who would have thought that Nigeria’s president and ruling party would by themselves hammer the nail that sealed their coffin?
FFK is perhaps the most hated Nigerian. The notorious former Aviation minister is probably the most despised career politician and political employment dependent (PED) Nigerian there is. Of all PEDs in Nigeria, known for their switching party as promise presents, FFK by being one of the most vocal, stands out perhaps the most and is the symbol of the principle-void of the PEDs.
When Jonathan selected PED FFK, Nigerians behind the then opposition, APC party sat back and relaxed a little, recognizing that Jonathan had at last revealed himself beyond doubt to all. Selecting a PED who was known for lashing out the worst against his very party was the most suicidal and/or clueless singular act of the then president. No one had better dissed and dismissed Jonathan than FFK.
Let’s rehash a few of the notable comments from FFK that would rapidly erode whatever hope of a victory Jonathan still had.
FFK is remembered for being a foremost Nigerian who condemned Jonathan of being behind the Boko Haram terror saga. Perhaps one of Jonathan’s most incriminating statements was his defense of Boko Haram as his siblings. On August 13, 2012, FFK posted this on his faceBook wall: ‘”They((Boko Haram) are our siblings and you cannot send the army to wipe out your family”- President Goodluck Jonathan (NEWS).”‘
He followed up the post by quoting Kayode Ogundamisi, ‘”I have no intention of insulting Mr President by concluding that he’s insane. His referring to Boko Haram as “our siblings” leaves me with no choice”- Kayode Ogundamisi.”‘
And then gave a final stroke against Jonathan, “BH have killed over 3000 people in two years and GEJ calls them our siblings? I weep for Nigeria. Don’t even know whether to laugh or cry.”
These were the type of things FFK was known for during his opposition years. He was brutal and lethal against Jonathan and the PDP.
He was on all TV shows describing the PDP party and the then President’s response to terror as treacherous and putrid. Quoting him ss relayed in ThisDay on the 6th of June, 2014,
‘“The PDP will continue to sink because it is a political party that has lost its bearing and its soul and it has mortgaged its conscience. It has also lost the source and strength of its inspiration and moral authority in the distinguished person of President Olusegun Obasanjo, who really was the glue that bound the party together and kept it going against all odds.”
Still in the same essay, Fani-Kayode said the PDP has become a party that is beyond redemption and that “the removal of Tukur cannot change that. I say this because no sensible person will go back to a stinking carcass simply because the head of the dead animal has been cut off and thrown away. A carcass remains a carcass whether you cut off its head, legs or any other part of its body or not. Whichever way, it remains as dead as a dodo and it only awaits a formal burial.
“The truth is that the vultures are already feeding fat on the rotting and decaying cadaver of the PDP and whether anyone likes to hear it or not, the truth is that the party can never be whole again. As I said eight months ago, it is a party that has been rejected by God and whose leaders are suffering God’s judgment for their unjust, gluttonous, wicked, foul and evil ways.”’
This was the best of FFK. This was what made FFK the most despised PED to the PDP party. And it was this very man, and most vociferous critic of the PDP and Jonathan that the very party selected to be its spokesman. Was this move insane or suicidal?
Some of us thought Jonathan was deliberately tossing in the towel. We simply unleashed FK against FFK the minute he began his spokesman role and the rest days were a laugh to victory.
The day PED FFK was selected as PDP campaign spokesman was the day millions of Nigerians who might have voted for the PDP switched party or decided to no longer vote.
It was a move that proved that Jonathan could mortgage anything and could even sponsor terror to win. Selecting a most despised PED was an in your face move. The only people who would still vote such a candidate were Nigerians who did not fear God and had decided to auction their morality.
Who could stand beside and behind an FFK? Who wanted an FFK country? FFK was the epitome of immorality, consciencelessness, disloyalty, money servitude, PEDism and all the rottenness that plagued Nigeria. FFK was known for hard drug dependence, tribalism, rants against Igbos, male chauvinism and women degradation, lewdness, promiscuousness, lickspittling, and all other vices known to man.
In a sense FFK was Jonathan as Jonathan was FFK. This is what Nigerians came to realize. FFK was Jonathan’s alter ego personified. No normal person would deploy an FFK. FFK was speaking Jonathan’s mind and demonstrating Jonathan’s soul beyond the physical realm. Nigerians saw it this way Indeed while the billions-to-spare Jonathan could have chosen and hired a “good” human being and paid him to do the spokesman work, Jonathan rather decided to choose FFK. Perhaps this was the most honest decision Jonathan ever made and the one “reverend” Kukah should tell Nigerians to appreciate him for.
Jonathan had made a statement: “I do not care about my reputation, I do not care about truth, I do not care about corruption, I do not care about you; right now all I want is the most rabid bulldog I can get to bark the most libelous and slanderous messages against the candidate I wish to defeat. I plan to keep you engaged and distracted with this vocal terrorist while I apply financial, Pulpit and other extreme mechanisms to try to buy and canvass the support I need in my catchment areas.”
It didn’t work. Despite aggressively deploying “Open the gates of hell and spill the blood” Pastor Oyedepo, one of the world’s largest pastors to further the Henry Okah publicized Jonathan utility of Boko Haram as a means of tarnishing the north/northern politicians, and the use of CAN president Ayo Oritsejafor while FFK kept keeping Nigerians distracted; and despite the Dangote and other cabal’s donation of billions at the end of 2014, and the opening of the nation’s treasury to fund the most expensive political campaign in world history, Jonathan lost with true numbers so large, if inflation due to rigging was corrected, perhaps Buhari doubled or tripled his total scores. And the one person that made this loss so grave was Femi Fani-Kayode, aka, Femi Olu Kayode.
Nigeria must thank Jonathan and thank FFK.
Dr. Peregrino Brimah; http://ENDS.ng [Every Nigerian Do Something] Email: [email protected] Twitter: @EveryNigerian
