TECHDIGEST – During a visit to Lagos on an advocacy campaign on the need for the diversification of the Nigerian economy in 2004, the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Engineer Hamman Tukur told the then Governor Bola Tinubu that any local government created outside the constitution was deemed illegal, according to the provisions of the legislative grundnorm, and hence would not receive allocations from the Federation Account.

Tinubu responded that he would rather intensify the revenue generation and collection drive in Lagos State to sustain the third tier of government, and without the Federation Account, than retract the over 30 newer local governments he had created.

The Department of Allocation at RMAFC, where the present governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, was then a staff, recommended the withholding of federal allocations to any state that created local governments outside the ambit of the 774 constitutionally created and recognised local council areas.

Other states that had created additional local governments at that time, reverted to the formally recognised ones, as President Olusegun Obasanjo, working on the advice from the Commission, suspended federal allocations to the local government areas in Lagos State.

Being the Head of Press and Public Relations at RMAFC between 1999 and 2004 when this went on, my team monitored the ensuing media war over the withholding of local government funds to Lagos State by the Federal Government. Almost all organs of the state government, especially the Executive Council and its members, including commissioners and advisers, alongside public commentators from the Lagos axis, whom we tagged as Tinubus boys, deployed different media strategies to win public support for the position of Lagos State on its right to create newer local councils. And the purported heavy hand of the Federal Government in its dealing with the State.

In fact, apart from my office, the Public Affairs Adviser to President Obasanjo, Barrister Femi Fani-Kayode was the most vocal voice against Tinubu and his loyalists on that public discourse. Even lawyers recruited by Governor Tinubu, through his Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (the current Vice President), had to write a very lengthy rejoinder against Femi Fani-Kayodes position. I recall that the lawyers who had signed the rejoinder then were Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) including Wole Olanipekun, Rickey Tafa, Taiwo Osipitan, and Kola Awodein.

Surprisingly, and to the amazement of many, despite the suspension of funds to the State, in a manner that could forestall development and breed economic and geopolitical crises, the government in Lagos started to generate more revenue than what the Federal Government could have released to it from the Federation Account till date.

Some years later, precisely in 2012, while in a discussion about the stubbornness of some politicians, Mallam Yusuf Alli of The Nation newspapers had made a call and handed the phone to me, saying, Speak to the Jagaban!

Although initially shocked, I was subsequently impressed by the humane and compassionate disposition of Tinubu when he explained to me that our positions are not borne out of stubbornness but to provide leadership by example through courage, fearlessness, equity and justice to serve and empower our people.

He even cracked some jokes and explained in detail what leadership entails.

When Tinubu recently declared his intention to contest for the Presidency, I recalled those closer encounters in assessing his personality. Surprisingly, I have been shocked to the marrow on realising that most of the virulent attackers, since the declaration of his presidential ambition, have not only been from his geopolitical zone, the South-West, but some are also from the camp of his past loyalists Tinubu boys who were his erstwhile defenders, such as during the period of the withheld council funds. And others who had benefitted from his goodwill to gain nominations and appointments into public offices at the state and federal levels.

It is quite worrisome to observe that when Tinubu was aggressively promoting and supporting the aspirations of many to top public offices, they hailed him to the high heavens; but now that he is seeking a high public office himself, they have turned on him with passionate hatred. They, who once extolled him as the Jagaban, the Leader and the Last man standing when he helped give wings to their ambitions, now describe him as old, sickly and corrupt because of his political ambition.

Meanwhile, the most vocal and leading voices lending support to Tinubu’s aspiration at this seeming last moment of his political career, are mostly APC northern leaders led by former governor of Borno State and now federal senator, Kashim Shettima.

These Northern campaigners have pointed out the political debt owed Tinubu and pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to reward him for what he did for the All Progressives Congress in the 2015 and 2019 elections, by giving him the right of first refusal to the presidential ticket. They see this as a decent payback.

On the claim that Tinubu is physically unsuitable for the Office of the President due to his age, Senator Shettima has pointed out that the presidency is not a job for bricklayers. According to him, the mark of true leadership isnt the ability to lift a bag of cement, but having the requisite experience in governance, being able to design innovative public policy, and putting the right team that will implement this together.

The Northern campaigners have reminded Buhari that, In 2015, some aspirants with very huge war chests were itching to clinch the ticket of the APC, but like the Rock of Gibraltar, Asiwaju and his progressive team stood solidly behind the candidacy of President Buhari.

While I am also deeply concerned about Tinubus health, considering what befell President Umar Musa YarAdua in office and the fact that Buhari too was almost done in by age and ill-health, earlier in his administration, yet I regard the more recent life given to allegations of Tinubus past misdemeanour in his climb to wealth and reckoning as a common feature characteristic of most successful politicians in Nigeria.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to point out a successful politician in public office in Nigeria who has never been accused whether true or false of age falsification, certificate forgery or corrupt practices, among other unbecoming acts.

As we keep making efforts at perfecting our system to check and push back the ills in our political processes, we should continually seek to enhance and manage our democracy in its content and form, including the highly critical area of leadership recruitment.

Meanwhile, if I could advise Tinubu, the kingmaker, on his dream of becoming a king himself, I would rather say: You have right to your aspiration, but if under extreme pressure to step down, you might as well consider Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, your topmost ally from the South-West, for support to become the most powerful Nigerian. Or, Senator Orji Kalu, a former governor from the South-East. Or, the minister of Transportation and former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, from the South-South. Or even the youngest presidential aspirant of the moment, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State from the North-Central, a region that is yet to produce an elected president or vice to date.

Yushau A. Shuaib, author of “An Encounter with the Spymaster” and “Crisis Communication Strategies” blogs at www.YAShuaib.com yashuaib@yahoo.com

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TECHDIGEST – The title of this article was the exact question posed by a senior security official at an informal breakfast in August. It was at a time when speculations were rife that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode would defect to the All-Progressives Congress (APC) from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

I have always referred to Femi Fani-Kayode (FFK) as a “Fire-for-Fire”advocate, since February 2004 when I wrote a rejoinder to his unacceptable public outburst while he was Special Adviser on Public Affairs to the then President Olusegun Obasanjo. My rejoinder exposed the loophole in a statement Fani-Kayode had issued against Colonel Dangiwa Umar, a former military administrator of Kaduna State, and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), over an issue they had with Obasanjo.

In the article, which was widely published in national dailies and titled, *“PR Analysis of Fani-Kayode’s Rejoinder on Dangiwa Umar,”*  ( Read the original article of 2004 here  https://yashuaib.com/2004/02/pr-analysis-of-fani-kayodes-rejoinder-on-dangiwa-umar/), I had criticised him for using high-sounding, derogatory expressions, such as  _‘pathological liar’, ‘treachery’, ‘ingratitude’, ‘destructive fake’, ‘suffer a form of delusion of grandeur and ‘misguided sense of self-importance,_ among others, against the subjects of his diatribe.

While appealing to ethics and utilising the tools of PR to counter his approach, I offered crucial advice to Fani-Kayode. I insisted that a successful publicist is not judged by the power of his/her oratory, expensive regalia and appearance with bodyguards, but by the ability to analyse issues critically, and not in a manner that’s so vitriolic and disagreeable – even when pushing an issue he or she is so passionate about. I added that amiability, humility and openness to criticisms, are not weaknesses but attributes of a good communicator who equally has a clear mission.

With his combative postures and bombastic public engagements, Fani-Kayode has continued to remain relevant, meeting the right people at the right time, and making the right connections for the right appointments.

Born on October 16, 1960, and named David Oluwafemi Abdulateef Fani-Kayode, he had most of his schooling in Britain. After serving as Chief Press Secretary to the first national chairman of the National Republican Convention (NRC), Chief Tom Ikimi in 1990, he was appointed Special Assistant to Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, a former head of the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO).
Thereafter, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him as his Special Assistant on Public Affairs in 2003, before he was elevated to the post of Minister of Culture and Tourism, and later as the Minister of Aviation in 2006.

FFK was a member of the PDP until 2013 when he defected to the APC as a founding member. In that initial role, he constituted a continuous thorn in the side of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. However, he returned to the PDP in June 2014 to become the spokesperson for Jonathan’s re-election campaign till 2015.

When his party lost in the presidential election and was hounded by the newer administration, FFK refused to be intimidated. He constantly pushed back and railed against President Buhari, top APC members and the government, taking them to the cleaners for their various perceived unethical acts. His choice of words in tackling those in power was as mercilessly as it was venomous.

Meanwhile, in responding to the enquiry by the senior security source earlier mentioned, I pointed out that FFK had cordial relationships with the detained leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and of the Yoruba Nation, Sunday Igboho. I equally emphasised that although the two men are the prominent faces of the secessionist agitation in Nigeria today, they yet have stronger sympathisers and supporters within and outside government.

In some of FFK’s engagements with the agitators, he seemed to affirm and encourage their divisive and inciting rhetoric, particularly in terms of the purported  _Fulanisation, Arewanization and Islamisation agenda_ of Northerners in Nigeria.

Therefore, I expressed doubt about the possibility of the acceptance of Fani-Kayode into APC by President Buhari and the party stalwarts. I nevertheless mentioned my strong belief that if FFK genuinely renounces his essentialist, if not bigoted, ethnic and religious outlook, he has the potential to add value to political and social stability, in a manner that enhances national security.

A few weeks after the breakfast talk, FFK did not only decamp to APC but was received through a red carpet reception at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, when the APC caretaker chairman, Governor Mala Buni of Yobe State, alongside Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State presented him to President Buhari.

The reception was also greeted with wild attacks across Nigeria’s political spectrum. Surprisingly, the majority of those condemning Fani-Kayode for decamping to APC now were the same ones commending him then when he was attacking the North, its leaders and the Buhari administration. Some of his attackers have been politicians, public commentators, and secessionist campaigners of the outlawed IPOB and Yoruba Nation groups.

The politics of decamping and defection in Nigeria is nothing new. Even though some observers pointed out that Fani-Kayode had abused, insulted, and disparaged everyone indiscriminately, this could be likewise said of other noteworthy politicians like Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu and Mallam Nasir El-rufai at different occasions in the past, who had vented their rage against General Buhari in disturbingly unprintable language, before they also swallowed their vomit and set up a political company with him in the same party.

Yet, unlike others, the central question being considered by many is actually what value Fani-Kayode could add to the Buhari administration at this point, which made the red carpet to be rolled out to him as he jumped ship into the APC.

Speaking with journalists after his meeting with President Buhari, FFK said it was time for him to cross over to join hands with the Head of State in moving Nigeria forward. He added that Nigerians must remain united to salvage the country from the stranglehold of those bent on destroying its progress. He also advised Nigerians not to allow any person or group to divide them or enable the disintegration of the country.

As Fani-Kayode put it: “The point is that I felt it was time to do the right thing, to put Nigeria first. When the time is right, we change direction to join forces and join hands to move the country forward. Doing this doesn’t mean we are enemies to anybody. Even if we are in another party, the PDP or any other party or group, we can still work together across party, regional, ethnic or religious lines.”

Sounding quite reflective, he continued: “We must remain one as a nation, and build bridges, work together to move the country forward. The most important thing is for us to understand the fact that Nigeria must not disintegrate and those that want us to end up fighting one another in a war will be put to shame.”

My take on Fani-Kayode’s defection from the PDP to APC is not so much about the morality or otherwise of his carpet crossing, but the genuineness of his proclaimed political rebirth from being a highly divisive actor, who had championed an incendiary brand of politics anchored around ethnic and religious identification, to one promoting national unity, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

To his credit, before his eventual defection to APC, he was noted to have worked closely with some key players in the APC, including Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi, in resolving some ethnoreligious conflicts in some states of the country.

I can only sincerely hope his better angels take charge this time around, to enable the role of a real bridge-builder rallying together many aggrieved stakeholders of the Nigeria project to work towards the socio-economic and political stability of our nation, which he is eminently qualified to play if he is so sincerely inspired.

By the way, I learn that beyond being Yoruba and Pentecostal Christian, FFK has Muslim and Fulani roots, and hence major traces of the Nigerian diversity, which he ought to be deeply concerned about promoting our national unity in ensuring national security of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Yushau A. Shuaib is the author of  _*A Dozen Tips for Media Relations*_
www.YAShuaib.com, yashuaib@yahoo.com

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