Femi Fani-Kayode
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David Oluwafemi Adewunmi Abdulateef Fani-Kayode (; born 16 October 1960) is a Nigerian politician, author and lawyer. Born in
Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...
, Nigeria, Fani-Kayode became the Special Assistant on Public Affairs to
Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo (; ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian former army general, politician and statesman who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 200 ...
from July 2003 to June 2006. He was appointed the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 22 June to 7 November 2006, and the Minister of Aviation from 7 November 2006 to 29 May 2007.


Early life and education

Fani-Kayode was born on 16 October 1960 in
Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...
,
Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...
, to Remi Fani-Kayode and Adia Fani-Kayode (née Adunni) from Ile-Ife,
Osun State Osun (; ), is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states for 84 km and for 78 km respectively, to the north by Kwara State for 73 km, to the south by Ogun State for 84 km and to the wes ...
. His great-grandfather, the Rev. Emmanuel Adedapo Kayode, was one of the earliest Nigerians to be educated in England, receiving an MA from the
University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...
, after which he became an Anglican priest. His grandfather, Victor Adedapo Kayode, studied law at
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
and became a lawyer and a judge. His father Victor Fani-Kayode, who was also at Cambridge, was a prominent lawyer and political figure in Nigeria in the 1950s and 1960s. He was leader of the opposition
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) (later changed to the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens), was a Nigerian nationalist political party from 1944 to 1966, during the period leading up to independence and immediatel ...
in the Western House of Assembly from 1960 to 1963; the Hon. Minister of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Deputy Premier of the Western Region of Nigeria from 1963 until 1966 and he successfully moved the motion for Nigeria's independence in 1958 in the Nigerian Parliament. Femi Fani-Kayode started his education at
Brighton College Brighton College is a fee-charging, co-educational, boarding and day public school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton and Hove, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18), Brighton Co ...
,
Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...
in the UK, after which he went to
Holmewood House School Holmewood House School is an IAPS independent, co-educational preparatory school for boys and girls aged 3–13, in Langton Green, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The building is a Decimus Burton mansion, originally called Mitchells, rebuilt in ...
in
Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...
, Kent, South-East England. He entered
Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...
in
Harrow on the Hill Harrow on the Hill or Harrow-on-the-Hill is a locality and historic village in the borough of London Borough of Harrow, Harrow in Greater London, England. The name refers to Harrow Hill, ,Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) ...
, United Kingdom, and later went to
Kelly College Kelly College was a coeducational independent school in the English public school tradition situated in the outskirts of Tavistock, Devon, with around 350 students ranging from ages 3 to 18. There was an associated preparatory school for prim ...
in
Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town and civil parish in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy, from which its name derives. At the 2011 census, the three electoral wards (N ...
, UK, where he completed the rest of his public school education. In 1980, Fani-Kayode went to the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
,
School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...
where he graduated with an LL.B law degree in 1983. For his
LLM A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with Self-supervised learning, self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially Natural language generation, language g ...
, in 1984, he entered
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
( Pembroke College) where his grandfather ( Selwyn College), his father (
Downing College Downing College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, ...
) and his older brother, Akinola (
Downing College Downing College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, ...
) had all previously read law. Victor Adedapo Kayode, Femi's grandfather, had been called to the British bar (at
Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...
) in 1922 and his father, Remi Fani-Kayode, was called to the British bar (also at
Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...
) in 1945. After finishing from Cambridge, Femi Fani-Kayode went to the
Nigerian Law School The Nigerian Law School is an educational institution set up to provide professional certification to graduates of law. The school was established in Lagos under the Legal Education Act 1962, now Legal Education (Consolidation Etc) Act Cap. L1 ...
and in 1985 was called to the Nigerian Bar. In 1993, under the tutelage of Archbishop
Nicholas Duncan-Williams Nicholas Duncan-Williams (born 12 May 1957) is a Ghanaian religious leader and Independent Charismatic preacher, serving as the presiding Archbishop and General Overseer of the Action Chapel International (ACI) Ministry. Headquartered in Accra, ...
of Ghana, Femi Fani-Kayode became a Pentecostal Christian. He decided to go back to school to study theology at the Christian Action Faith Bible Seminary in
Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...
,
Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
, gaining a diploma in theology in 1995.


Political career

Femi Fani-Kayode was a member of the Nigerian National Congress (NNC) in 1989. He was elected the national youth leader of NNC that same year. In 1990, he was appointed as Chief Press Secretary to Chief
Tom Ikimi Chief Tom Ikimi (born 10 April 1944) is a Nigerian politician and architect who served as minister of foreign affairs from 1995 to 1998. He was appointed chairman of ECOWAS Council of Ministers and ECOWAS Committee of Nine on Liberia (C-9) on 26 ...
, the first national chairman of the
National Republican Convention The National Republican Convention was a Nigerian political party established by the government of General Ibrahim Babangida and ultimately disbanded by the military regime of General Sani Abacha in 1993. Alignment The party was organized to ca ...
(NRC) and in 1991 as Special Assistant to Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, former head of the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO). In 1996, disturbed by the actions of Gen.
Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (; (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military dictator and statesman who ruled Nigeria with an iron fist as military head of state from 1993 following a palace coup d'état until his death in 1998. Abacha's seiz ...
's military junta, Femi Fani-Kayode left Nigeria and joined the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) abroad where, together with the likes of the
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
-trained lawyer Chief Tunde Edu and others, he played a very active role in the pro-democracy campaign against the military regime of Abacha. He came back to Nigeria in 2001 and met President Olusegun Obasanjo. At the beginning of 2003, Femi Fani-Kayode was appointed by the President as a member of his presidential campaign team for the 2003 presidential election. After President Obasanjo won that election, Femi Fani-Kayode was appointed as the first ever Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In 2006, he was appointed as the Honorable Minister of Culture and Tourism. That same year, after a minor cabinet reshuffle, he was re-deployed to the Aviation Ministry as the Minister of Aviation. Since the end of the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration on 29 May 2007, Femi Fani-Kayode has gone back to the private sector and to his legal practice.


Challenges and allegations

Femi Fani-Kayode was investigated and arrested by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a Nigerian law enforcement and anti-graft agency that investigates financial crimes and unknown transactions such as advance fee fraud (419 fraud) and money laundering. The EFCC was establ ...
(EFCC) in July 2008, in connection with alleged misappropriation of a 19.5 billion naira (approx. $300,000,000) "Aviation Intervention Fund." The investigation found no evidence against him. The Senate Committee on Aviation in early 2008, initially recommended that Fani-Kayode be banned from holding public office for five years but later withdrew it. At the beginning of 2010, there was speculation that a power struggle had begun in Nigeria with President Obasanjo and his loyalists pushing for Yar'Adua to step down and hand over power to his vice-president, Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to former military head of state General Muhammadu Buhari and ...
. Yar'Adua's loyalists resisted this suggestion and part of their response to that challenge was to implement another strategy to try to silence and intimidate President Obasanjo and his key loyalists, including El-Rufai, Fani-Kayode, Ribadu, Lawal Batagarawa, Nnenadi Usman and Andy Uba, by accusing them of plotting a coup. This was the same method that was adopted by General
Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (; (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military dictator and statesman who ruled Nigeria with an iron fist as military head of state from 1993 following a palace coup d'état until his death in 1998. Abacha's seiz ...
who had jailed Obasanjo on similar charges when he was in power. General Obasanjo was released and pardoned a number of years later after Abacha died and after General
Abdulsalami Abubakar Abdulsalami Abubakar (; born 13 June 1942) is a retired Nigerian army general who served as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1998 to 1999. He was also Chief of Defence Staff from 1997 to 1998. He succeeded General Sani Abacha upon ...
took power. In November 2010, Fani-Kayode said that Yar'Adua's sought to jail and destroy his predecessor in office and the man that single-handedly brought him to power, President
Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo (; ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian former army general, politician and statesman who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 200 ...
, as well as his loyalists, including El-Rufai, Ribadu, and Fani-Kayode himself. He also alleged that Baba Gana Kingibe, the Secretary to the Federal Government during the Yar'Adua administration, was the principal enforcer of that plan and that Yar'Adua administration officials
James Ibori James Onanefe Ibori (born 4 August 1959) is a Nigerian politician who was Governor of Delta State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. An ethnic Urhobo by descent, Ibori is a member of the people’s Democratic Party(PDP). He is a leade ...
, Tanimu Yakubu, Abba Ruma and
Michael Aondoakaa Michael Kaase Aôndoakaa, SAN (born 12 June 1962) is Nigeria's former Justice Minister and Attorney General of the Federation in office from July 2007 to 10 February 2010. Background Michael Kaase Aôndoakaa was born in Benue on 12 June 1962 ...
were also involved. On 25 August 2020, while attending a brief press conference during his tour of southern Nigeria, he insulted and denigrated a journalist from the Nigerian daily, ''Daily Trust''. The journalist had asked him who was financially responsible for his costly air tickets for the trips. The following day, FFK issued an apology to the journalist.


Arrested by EFCC

Fani-Kayode was arrested in December 2008 by the EFCC and charged with 47 counts of money laundering. Fani-Kayode stated that he was innocent and that the monies were funds received from his own private businesses and legitimate sources and had nothing to do with government funds. He said that the investigations of the Yar'Adua government and the EFCC were politically motivated, and he was being persecuted in the same way as other colleagues from the Obasanjo government, such as Nasir El-Rufai and
Nuhu Ribadu Nuhu Ribadu mni (born 21 November 1960) is a Nigerian politician, barrister and retired police officer who is currently serving as the National Security Adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu. Ribadu ran unsuccessfully for office of the P ...
, for their ties to President Obasanjo. On 22 October, EFCC operatives of arrested on a 17-count charge of unlawful retention, unlawful use and unlawful payment of money in the tune of about N4.9 billion, a charge brought against them by the anti-graft commission.


Fani-Kayode discharged and acquitted of money laundering charges

Fani-Kayode was discharged and acquitted on 1 July 2015, by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on the two-count charge of money laundering preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The court held that the EFCC was unable to prove the charges against Fani-Kayode beyond reasonable doubt and consequently acquitted him. In his victory press statement, Fani-Kayode changed his name from Oluwafemi Fani-Kayode to Olufemi Olu-Kayode (meaning "the Lord brings joy"). According to him, this was done as a mark of gratitude to God following his acquittal of all the remaining money laundering charges that were brought against him by the EFCC. Fani-Kayode had fought the case since 1 July 2008 and he was finally cleared of all the remaining charges that had not been dismissed earlier on 1 July 2015. This was 7 years to the day after his ordeal first started. Kayode had fought the case since 2008 was accused by the EFCC to have laundered about N100m while he was Minister of Culture and Tourism and subsequently Aviation Minister. The allegedly laundered sum was however reduced to N2.1m on 17 November 2014 after Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia, dismissed 38 out of the 40 counts levelled against Fani-Kayode by the EFCC for want of proof. Furthermore, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has faced criminal prosecution and criminal charges and trials back to back in 4 major cases and appeals by the EFCC which jointly lasted over the last 18 years. He won every single one of them and the last one was on 4th February 2025. 1. In 2008 he was accused of misappropriating 19.5 billion naira of the Aviation Intervention Fund and of money laundering whilst he was Minister of Aviation and prosecuted by the EFCC from 1st July 2008 to 1st July 2015 at the Federal High Court in Lagos before Hon. Justice Ahmad, Hon. Justice Binta Nyarku and Hon. Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia respectively. 7 years later, on 1st July 2016, he was discharged and acquitted of all charges by Hon. Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court. 2. In 2016 he was accused of misappropiating 8 billion naira of public funds which he allegedly used for President Goodluck Jonathan's presidential campaign and prosecuted by EFCC from 2016 to 2023 at the Federal High Court in Lagos before Hon. Justice M.S. Hassan, Hon. Justice Aikawa and Hon. Justice Oziagor respectively. 7 years later, all the charges that were brought against him before Justice Osiagor were quashed by the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos in April 2023. 3. In 2016 he was accused of illegally receiving 26 million naira from the office of the National Security Advisor to President Goodluck Jonathan, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, and was prosecuted by EFCC from 2016 to 2025 at the Federal High Court Abuja before Hon. Justice Tsoho, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court. 8 years later, on 15th January 2025, he was discharged and acquitted on all counts by Hon. Justice Tsoho. 4. In 2021 he was accused of forging and procuring fake medical certificates which he allegedly presented before the courts in order to secure an adjournment and was prosecuted by EFCC from 2021 to 2025 at the Lagos State High Court Ikeja before Hon. Justice Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe. 4 years later, on February 4th 2025, he was discharged and acquitted on all counts by Hon. Justice Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe.


Poems and essays

In November 2009, before Yar'Adua fell ill, Fani-Kayode wrote a poem titled "I Stand and I Fight". In this poem, he described Yar'Adua as a "sickly tyrant with an amalekite foundation" and he predicted that "his end would soon come". Fani-Kayode wrote other poems over the last few years. In January 2010, approximately two months after Yar'Adua left Nigeria and was flown to
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
on medical grounds (during which time no Nigerian other than his wife and his chief security officer saw him or any pictures of him), there were strong speculations in the country that the president was dead, was in a deep coma or was so sick that he could not speak or get up from his sick bed in his Saudi Arabian hospital. This resulted in a power vacuum in Nigeria as a consequence of which a constitutional crisis began to unfold. The President's supporters and cabinet ministers, led by his wife
Turai Yar'Adua Turai Umar Musa Yar'Adua (born 26 July 1957) is the widow of the former Nigerian president and former Katsina State Governor, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. She was the First Lady of Nigeria from 2007 until the death of her husband on 5 May 2010. Educa ...
, resisted the suggestion that the vice-president should take over power while the President was incapacitated even though this was what the Nigerian constitution prescribed, Fani-Kayode added his voice to that of President Obasanjo, President
Shehu Shagari Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari (; 25 February 1925 – 28 December 2018) was a Nigerian politician who was the first democratically elected president of Nigeria, after the transfer of power by Military Head of State of Nigeria, military head of sta ...
, General
Yakubu Gowon Yakubu Dan-Yumma "Jack" Gowon (born 19 October 1934) is a Nigerian former military officer and statesman who served as the head of state of Nigeria from 1966 to 1975. Gowon was Nigeria's leader during the Nigerian Civil War where he delivered ...
,
Ernest Shonekan Chief Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan (9 May 1936 – 11 January 2022) was a Nigerian lawyer and statesman who served as the interim head of state of Nigeria from 26 August 1993 to 17 November 1993. He was installed the Abese of Egbalan ...
and other former heads of government, former cabinet ministers, former legislators, leading opposition figures and leading members of the ruling PDP party by publicly calling for the resignation of President Yar'Adua and for the transference of power to Vice-president Goodluck Jonathan at that critical time. To convey his view Fani-Kayode wrote a satire in ''Next Newspaper'' and titled it "Corpsology: Umaru's Gift To The Modern World". In the article Fani-Kayode suggested that by insisting on ruling Nigeria from his sick bed in Saudi Arabia and through his acolytes and wife, the President and his supporters were not just breaching the Nigerian constitution but that they were also surreptitiously introducing an entirely new and alien system of government into Nigeria, destroying democracy and attempting to perpetuate themselves in power through that new system indefinitely. He argued that this was being done by the authorities even where it was clear that the president was already "half dead". Fani-Kayode defined his concept of corpsology (or "corpsocracy" as he sometimes calls it) as "the rulership of the living by the dead" and the thrust and intent of his satire was to clearly convey the message that the attempt to introduce this hitherto unknown system of government into Nigeria by Yar'Adua, his wife and his cabinet was unacceptable and should not be allowed to stand. On 7 August 2010 Fani-Kayode wrote another article titled "Charles Taylor: A Man Betrayed" in which he described the events and circumstances leading up to the extradition of the infamous former President of
Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
Charles Taylor from Nigeria, where he had been given refuge and asylum after a bitter war and crisis in his nation Liberia. Fani-Kayode explained how Taylor ended up being handed back to Liberia and how he was then sent to the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
at
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
in the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
to face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Fani-Kayode had been the spokesman of President Obasanjo at that time, and in his essay he gave an account of how Taylor was betrayed by a number of parties and nations and detailed what he described as the "treacherous and ignoble" roles that US President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
and President Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia played in the saga. He accused both America and Liberia of reneging on their word and on an earlier agreement on the Taylor issue and he alleged that they "betrayed the confidence" that the
African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...
, the
Economic Community of West African States The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as CEDEAO in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of twelve countries of West Africa. Collectively, the present and former members comprise an area ...
(ECOWAS) Heads of Government, Nigeria and President Obasanjo had placed in them. Finally he called for the trial of former President George W. Bush and Britain's former Prime Minister
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
at the same
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
at The Hague for what he described as "similar crimes against humanity" as the ones that Taylor was being accused of. He alleged that they had committed these crimes during the illegal invasion of
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
and the bombing of
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
in which he claimed that "hundreds of thousands of defenceless and innocent Iraqi women and children" were killed. The article was published the day after the sensational appearance of super-model
Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...
at the famous "
blood diamonds Blood diamonds (also called conflict diamonds, brown diamonds, hot diamonds, or red diamonds) are diamonds Diamond mining, mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army's war efforts, terrorism, or a warlord's activity ...
" trial of Charles Taylor at The Hague. Fani-Kayode was also involved in a debate about the mysterious circumstances under which Nigeria's first Prime Minister, Sir Tafawa Balewa, lost his life. In two essays titled "Femi Fani-Kayode: Who Killed Sir Tafawa Balewa?" and "The Death of Tafawa Balewa: the Segun Osoba angle", he opposed the view that Balewa had died of natural causes, which had been suggested by Chief M.T. Mbu, Nigeria's former Foreign Minister and Chief Segun Osoba, a former state governor, and he proffered the view that the Prime Minister had actually been murdered. Fani-Kayode wrote other essays over the years. In 2011 he called for the "crushing" of the Islamic fundamentalist sect called
Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da'wa wa al-Jihad (), is a self-proclaimed jihadist militant group based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group spli ...
which claimed responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of Nigerians in a campaign of terror and bombing in their quest to ban western education and set up an Islamic fundamentalist caliphate in the whole of northern Nigeria".


Family

Femi Fani-Kayode has been married four times. His first marriage was to Saratu "Baby" Atta in 1987 and they were divorced by 1990. They had one child, Oluwafolake. The second marriage was to Yemisi Olasunbo Adeniji in 1991 but they were divorced by 1995. They have three daughters whose names are Oluwatemitope, Oluwatobiloba and Oluwatuminu. The third marriage was to Regina-Hanson Amonoo. They were married in 1997 and have one daughter, Oluwaremilekun. In 2014 Femi Fani-Kayode and Precious Chikwendu, a beauty queen and the winner of the Miss United Nations (world) beauty pageant 2014, got married under native law and custom. This was his fourth marriage. On 1 February 2016 Fani-Kayode and his wife had their first son. He was christened Joshua Oluwafemi Emmanuel Lotanna Aragorn Fani-Kayode. He is Fani-Kayode's first son. On 25 May 2018, Precious Chikwendu gave birth to a set of triplet for her husband Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. They were christened Ragnar Alexander Olusegun Okunade Ikena Fani-Kayode, Aiden Daniel Olumide Jidena Benaniah Fani-Kayode and Liam Michael Oluwanifemi Tobena Jehu Fani-Kayode. In 2020 Femi Fani-Kayode and Precious Chikwendu divorced due to irreconcilable differences. Femi Fani-Kayode and his wife Regina Hanson-Amono were married in 1997 and remain married till today.


References


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fani-Kayode, Femi 1960 births 20th-century Nigerian lawyers 21st-century Nigerian poets 21st-century Nigerian politicians Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Alumni of SOAS University of London Aviation ministers of Nigeria Federal ministers of Nigeria Living people National Democratic Coalition (Nigeria) politicians Nigerian Christians Nigerian male poets Ministers of tourism, culture and natural orientation of Nigeria People educated at Brighton College People educated at Harrow School People educated at Holmewood House School People educated at Kelly College People from Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians Politicians from Lagos Yoruba politicians
Femi Fẹ́mi is a common Nigerian given unisex name of Yoruba origin which means "love me". Femi is most commonly a diminutive form of " Olufemi" (or Olúfẹ́mi) which means ''The Lord loves me'' ,("Olú" means Lord, Leader, or the "Prominent one, ...