A former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has faulted his former boss, Olusegun Obasanjo’s treatment of some Oyo traditional rulers during a recent event.
Fani-Kayode said he was “deeply saddened and utterly mortified” by the octogenarian’s actions.
Recall that a video of former President Obasanjo ordering the monarchs to stand and greet him recently went viral on social media.
In the video, Obasanjo scolded the traditional rulers, saying they should stand and greet whenever a governor or president was before them.
Obasanjo’s reign as Nigeria’s president ended in 2007.
The former president’s action has attracted condemnation from many quarters, including from the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Adewale Akanbi Telu I.
In a reaction on X, formerly known as Twitter, Fani-Kayode said it was troubling that Obasanjo that has a history of respect for the traditional institution even during his tenure as president could turn around to denigrate it.
“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,” he said.
The ex-minister said that while some have taken the matter as a sort of joke, “we must not take it lightly and the truth is that by doing what he did he has spat on all our faces.”
“His words and behaviour are a desecration of our values and a grave insult to the Yoruba people and our traditional institutions.
“I am constrained to be gentle and restrained in my criticism of Baba OBJ on this and so many other issues because of the undying love, respect and reverence I have for him.
“This is all the more so given the fact that I proudly served in his government,” Fani-Kayode added.
He said that the former president’s support for the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the last election, Peter Obi has “diminished and demystified him in the eyes of most to such an extent that it has become pitiful and embarrassing. It is also indefensible.”
“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 effrontery 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 who still have some affection and respect left for you,” Fani-Kayode said.