Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has rebuked his former boss and ex-president, Olusegun Obasanjo, for what he deemed as an “embarrassing” treatment of Yoruba traditional rulers during the recent inauguration of a project in Iseyin, Oyo State.
The incident occurred on Friday when Obasanjo attended the commissioning of the Iseyin Campus of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Renewable Natural Resources of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Iseyin, alongside the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde.
During the event, Obasanjo reportedly ordered traditional rulers in attendance to stand and greet Governor Makinde — an action that was deemed a desecration of the traditional institution in Yoruba land.
Expressing his dismay at the incident, Fani-Kayode, who served as Obasanjo’s Special Assistant (Public Affairs) from 2003 to 2006, censured his former boss for ridiculing the monarchs in public.
“I am deeply saddened and utterly mortified by the way in which former President Olusegun Obasanjo lambasted our reverred (sic) traditional rulers in Oyo state and “ordered” them to “stand up” and “sit down” as if they were children.
“This is the same OBJ that, once upon a time, displayed his respect, humility and I daresay greatness by bowing, kneeling and prostrating before our monarchs, even when he was President, yet today he talks to them as if they are his garbage collectors and orders them to jump up and down like a molue driver talking to his beleaguered passengers and a motor park tout talking to a bunch of jobless and worthless underlings,” Fani-Kayode wrote in a Facebook post.
The former minister further criticized Obasanjo’s association with Peter Obi in the last presidential election, saying Obasanjo’s support for Obi’s presidential bid had diminished and demystified the former president.
Fani-Kayode had supported President Bola Tinubu’s presidential bid and worked in his campaign organisation.
“How can a man who dedicated his life to and fought for a united Nigeria support a closet secessionist, a political fraud, a patently deceitful, vainglorious and dishonest man and a religious bigot like Peter to be President?
“That the great OBJ is now a flaming Obidient is the 8th wonder of the world. It really makes no sense and it is simply mind-boggling. What we witnessed when OBJ insulted our traditional rulers in Oyo state yesterday was the Obi spirit which is now firmly embedded in him at work.
“First, he was at a gathering in Awka where the Yoruba race were labelled “political rascals” by some Igbo leaders without a response from him and now he has the guts and effontry (sic) to tell our traditional rulers to jump up and down like yoyos and clowns?
“Baba this is too much. Please respect yourself and stop embarrassing those of us that still have some affection and respect left for you.”
THE WHISTLER reported that the Oluwo of Iwo land, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, had similarly voiced his disapproval of Obasanjo’s action toward the monarchs.