Oh dear, I told you something must have gone wrong, when APC denied FFK in an interview today. So
Femi Fani-Kayode already left APC and Lai Mohammed knows and still granted that
interview? Well here are the FULL reasons Fani-kayode says he left the party
and more juicy exposés that might interest you. Plus he says he is back to PDP....oh well! Enjoy!!
I declared for the APC in June last year in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti
state well before the party was registered by INEC. I formally joined the
party, amidst great fanfare, on 7th February 2014 in my hometown Ile-Ife and I
registered my membership on that day.
The registration was done outside the
Ooni’s palace and it was done in the presence of the media, numerous party
leaders in the state, including Hon. Rotimi Makinde, who represents Ile-Ife at
the Federal House, and all the other key leaders of the APC in the state and
Ife-Ife including Chief Akantioke and Alhaji Soko Adewoyin the former Deputy Governor of Osun state
After
registering we proceeded to pay a courtesy call on my traditional ruler, the
Ooni of Ife, and from there I went to spend a few days with Governor Rauf
Aregbesola who, together with Governor Kayode Fayemi, I am close to and I
consider to be friends.
I have stated these facts and set the record straight
due to the fact that Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the spokesman of the APC, had the
effontry to say in an interview with Premium Times magazine earlier today, that
I was never a member of the APC and that I never joined them formally.
He also
went further to say that had if I had been a member of the APC the party would
have sanctioned me for expressing my opposition to the idea of a muslim/muslim
ticket. The truth is that Mohammed is
not only a liar but he is also a coward. If he wanted to know the truth he and
those that sent him to issue the statement could have called me and asked me.
He ought to have done his homework before speaking out. I was not only a member
of the APC but I was also a leader of that
party and a foundational member. Yet once I joined I began to see things
as they really were.
I have never been
and will never be part of a cult and the fact that people like Mohammed and
those he represents within the APC are not comfortable with any form of admonition
or criticism from senior party members like me speaks volumes. I have nothing
but the fondest thoughts and memories for the majority of APC leaders including
all the governors and most of the Presidential aspirants but today I have an
important announcement to make.
I wish to inform the general public that as at
today, 2nd June 2014, I have left the APC and gone back to the PDP. I wish the
APC well in all their endeavours but as at today we have parted ways forever
and my spirit has left them. My reasons for leaving the party are because I
consider nation-building as being far more important than party politics, party
affiliation or party formations.
I am a devout and committed christian and I
cannot remain in a party where a handful of people that have sympathies for
Boko Haram and that have a clear islamic agenda are playing a leading role.
This is made all the more untenable when some of those people are working hard
silently and behind the scenes to impose a muslim/muslim ticket on the party
for the Presidential elections next year.
I believe that religion ought to play
no part in politics but a situation where members of the christian faith are
not treated as equals and where the all the substantive positions of the
National Executive of the party are made up of almost exclusively muslims is
unacceptable to me. In fairness to the members of the party there are many
leaders within it’s ranks who share my views and who are also opposed to the
religious agenda that the few have but I am not prepared to stay and fight from
within because the very presence of any closet Haramites on the same political
platform as me is something that I find utterly repugnant.
I have raised these
issues privately with virtually every key party leader including most of the
governors but nothing has changed. I cannot be in a party in which the
spokesman. Lai Mohammed, only last year said that it was wrong and
”unconstitutional” for the Federal Government to proscribe Boko Haram. This is
the same Boko Haram that has killed no less than 15,000 Nigerians in the last
three years.
I cannot be in a party where the leading Presidential candidate,
only last year said that Boko Haram ought to be killed but ought to be treated
like the Niger Delta militants, granted amnesty without any conditions,
pampered and paid and who said, in 2001, that muslims should only vote for
people who will protect their faith. I cannot be in a party where a number of
leading people question the secularity of the state and yet those people are
not called to order by the so-called party leaders and where such people seem
to hold sway. I cannot be in a party which appears to have politicised the
whole of the Chibok issue and who are not sincere in trying to get the girls
back. I cannot be in a party where a few of it’s leaders are more interested in
playing politics with the whole Chibok issue and hurling bricks at our military
for not doing a better job.
I cannot be in a party in which the role of one of
it’s governors is not clear on the Chibok issue: this is a governor that has
not been able to explain to the world why he insisted that the girls should do
their exams in that school and remain in Chibok for the night even though WAEC
and the Federal Government had warned them about the dangers of doing so. I
cannot be in a party in which dissent and a differing opinion with others on
fundamental issues is seen as an offence and something to be frowned upon or to
be queried or expelled for.
I have been in politics for the last 24 years of my
life and all along I have taken monuemental risks and been guided by my
princples. I have also exhibited that I have the courage of my convictions and
more often that not I have dared to say what many others are thiniking but dare
not to say. It is clear to me that such sentiments are not appreciated in the
APC under it’s present leadership and consequently I have chosen to move on. I
believe that every religion and every ethnic nationality in this country ought
to be treated with the greatest respect even within the context of a political
party. I believe that we are all equal before God regardless of our religious
differences.
A situation whereby, as a christian, I am made to feel that I am a
second class citizen in any association or political party which I am part of
and for which I have taken risks is unacceptable to me. In order for any
political party to move our country forward you need the input, support and
confidence of the adherents of ALL religious faiths and not just that of the
muslims. This is something that some in the APC do not seem to appreciate.
As a christian I feel deeply offended by some
of the rhetoric and behaviour of some of the APC leaders and I cannot be
expected to remain silent in the face of such expressions. These are the main
reasons why I have left the APC. I wish them well in all their endeavours and
like I said earlier many of their key leaders and governors remain my personal
friends and will continue to do so even after this. Thanks and may God guide
and bless Nigeria.
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