Connect with us

News

Angry Fani-Kayode tears into journalist during press conference

Published

on

IPOB: Fani-Kayode attacks Junaid Mohammed, tells him to withdraw bloodletting comment

Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, got angry during a press parley over a question which a journalist asked him, and flared up, pouring insults on the reporter.

The journalist, Eyo Charles of Daily Trust newspaper had asked who was funding his (Fani-Kayode) trips to the South-South states he claimed he had visited, to meet with the governors and inspect their projects.

A rather angry Fani-Kayode threw caution to the wind as he angrily fired insults and abuses at the journalist during the press conference who also asked what the aim of the visit was.

The PDP chieftain felt embarrassed by the questions, thus ripping into the reporter.

“Who is bankrolling your PR junkets these days?” the journalist asked.

In his reply, Fani-Kayode said; “What type of stupid question is that? Bankrolling who? Do you know who you are talking to? I will not take any questions from this man. What type of insulting question is that? Which bankroll? To do what? Who can give me money for anything?”, Fani-Kayode fired

READ ALSO: FANI KAYODE TO BUHARI: Probe MURIC over alleged funding by ISWAP

“Who do you think you are talking to? Bankroll what? Go and report yourself to your publisher. Please don’t insult me here. I could see from your face, before you got here, how stupid you are. Don’t ever talk to me like that.

“You have a small mind. Don’t judge me by your own standards. I have been in politics since 1990. I am not one of those politicians you think will just come….I have been locked up how many times by this government…suffered. I have been persecuted. Unlike most of the politicians you follow for brown envelope. You!

“I spend, I don’t take. And I am not a poor man. I have never been and will never be. Bankroll who? A former minister? A lawyer? Don’t ever try that with me again. I have a short fuse. You’re very stupid!!,” Fani-Kayode who has been known to be somewhat erratic at times said before ending the session and storming out of the room.

Reacting to criticisms that trailed his actions on social media, Fani-Kayode said that he would never apologise to the journalist as the question he asked was an insult.

He tried to explain what transpired on his on his twitter handle, saying: “During my tour of the South and after a long and successful press conference in Calabar, Cross Rivers state, a journalist put up his hand for the last question and said,

“Well we do not know who is bankrolling you”.

“This is not a question but an assertion and an insult and if this insulting ASSERTION were made before Trump or OBJ, I know how they would have reacted.

“Above is my response & I have no apology to offer for it. The young man apologised to me during the press conference & sent his apologies to me after the conference.

“I have accepted his apologies & moved on. I have always had respect for journalists & always will. Those of them that know me or worked with or for me over the last 30 years can attest to that.

“However there is a distinction between asking a question & offering an insult.

“This is all the more so when it is clear that the assertion was sponsored and engineered by my political enemies who wanted to use the young man to insult and embarrass me and question my integrity. Well they got more than they bargained for.

“I repeat this was not a question but an assertion and an gratutious insult and I will not accept that from any man born of woman”.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now