Chief Femi Fani-Kayode

Davidson Iriekpen

A former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has withdrawn the statement credited to him that he had an intimate relationship with the wife of the late Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu.

Fani-Kayode, also a former Minister of Culture, in a statement by his lawyer, Mr. Akinola Babatunde Rotimi, however, said the claim by Bianca that they were not friends and had never met was ‘patently false'.

The former minister, who was also a spokesman of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, insisted that he knew Bianca in the early mid-80s when he was a student at the London and Cambridge Universities respectively.

He noted that they were good friends at the time and had a few mutual friends who are still alive till date.

The statement stated that though he had not seen Bianca for over 25 years, he spoke to her on the phone when her husband passed on last year.

Fani-Kayode had in an article titled: 'Neither a Tribalist Nor a Hater,' published in the Leadership Newspaper of Augusts 16 edition to defend himself over his write-up on the relocation of some Igbo to Anambra State by the Lagos State Government, alleging that he had “a long standing and intimate relationship with Bianca Onoh."

But Bianca had through an advertorial published in some national newspapers, demanded an apology and a complete retraction of the statement within seven days or she would institute a legal action against the former minister.

The Fani-Kayode statement read: “Our client knew Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu in the early to mid-80's when he was a student at London University and Cambridge University respectively.

“They were good friends at the time and they had a few mutual friends who are still alive today. The bizarre, absurd and inexplicable assertion that they were not friends and that Ambassador Ojukwu has never met our client is patently false.
“Though he has not seen her for over 25 years, he spoke to her on the phone when her husband passed on last year. As our client said earlier through his press secretary, some of the words he used to describe his friendship with her in his article titled: 'A Word For Those Who Call Me A Tribalist' were indiscreet. He hereby withdraws them."

THISDAY also gathered from sources close to Fani-Kayode that the former aviation minister was making efforts through emissaries close to Bianca to reach out to her to resolve the disagreement.

The sources said the former minister was concerned that the issue had degenerated and would want a resolution on the misunderstanding.

But Bianca had through an advertorial published in some national newspapers, demanded an apology and a complete retraction of the statement within seven days or she would institute a legal action against the former minister.

eye4eye: Ibo people have failed to nail FFK. FFK decimated you all intellectualy and you could do is mud throwing.

Fani Kayode represented everything that a public official should not be. He had no manners and he had no qualms about it. The senate therefore wanted to take time to grill him, shove back, in his face, all the humiliation he had subjected many to. One is almost sure that many of the senators wanted to provide for him a rope to hang himself by pushing him to the limits during the hearing so that his real self would emerge. They were hoping that he would unleash his usual arrogant and abusive tirade on them. That would have provided them a good reason to reject his nomination. Unfortunately, he did not take the bait. The man that took pride in abusing people became "contrite". From a loud-mouthed braggart, he turned into a big mouse, groveling for confirmation. This writer expected that a man that arrogated so much authority to himself would have gracefully walked into the Senate chambers and say to them: "confirm me if you like" and quietly walk away. No, he did not do that. He entered the Senate chambers with shifty eyes, wobbly legs and sweaty palms and then crouched over, hoping for sympathy
He wanted the job so badly that he had to invoke every thing he could lay his hands on. He told the Senate that he was now a born again Christian. Infact, he invoked the issue of "born again Christian" so much that the Senate president, Ken Nnamani, had to warn him not to turn the senate hall into a religious one! The "mighty" indeed fell