Former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has reacted to a viral video showing him scolding a journalist.
Recall that The Herald earlier reported that the ex-minister upbraided the journalist during a press conference he held in Calabar during his tour of some Southern states.
The journalist had asked who was bankrolling the minister.
A visibly-angry Fani-Kayode described the question as “stupid” and an “insult”.
He equally threatened to report the journalist to his publisher, presumably for disciplinary action.
However, in a reaction on Twitter, he said he reacted the way he did because the journalist did not ask a question but made an assertion.
The ex-minister added that he had the utmost respect for journalists having worked with them for 30 years and would never disrespect them.
Fani-Kayode said, “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.”
Referring to the video, he noted, “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. Thank you.”