‘I Owe No Apology To Offer’ — Fani-Kayode

Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has been blasted by Nigerians on social media for calling a journalist, Eyo Charles, “stupid” during a press conference in Calabar, Cross River State.

The journalist, during a press briefing by Fani-Kayode, asked who bankrolled his recent tour of some southern states.

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Reacting in a recent video which has since gone viral on social media, Fani-Kayode was seen blasting the Daily Trust reporter for asking him a “stupid question.

Fani-Kayode said he had no apology to offer, insisting that the journalist’s comment was insulting.

“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,” he said.

“Below is my response and I have no apology to offer for it… This is not a question but an assertion and an insult. And if this insulting assertion were made before (Donald) Trump or OBJ (Olusegun Obasanjo), I know how they would have reacted.

“The young man apologised to me during the press conference and sent his apologies to me after the conference. I have accepted his apologies in good faith and moved on.

“I have always had respect for journalists and I always will. Those of them that know me or have worked with or for me over the last 30 years can attest to that.”

Watch the video below:

The media is bought and paid for. Why else will a journalist be saying sorry like he farted in class and his principal decided to dress him down on the assembly. But Buhari is the tyrant pic.twitter.com/IpwgkpyAxH

— Daddy D.O🇳🇬 (@DOlusegun) August 25, 2020

Reacting to this, the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) has condemned the attack.

NUJ President, Chris Isiguzo, said in a statement, that Fani-Kayode’s attack against Charles was “gangster-like.”

Reacting also was a former Channels TV presenter, Sulaiman Aledeh who expressed that the former Minister was out of order.

Many have reached out to me asking about my views on the insults hurled by my friend FFK on a colleague of mine. I had tried to reply as many as I could. Allow me share here my thoughts. FFK was really out of order. At best he should have refused to answer or give an answer

— sulaiman aledeh (@aledeh) August 25, 2020

However, Fani-Kayode said he had no apology for his conduct. The former minister said, on the contrary, the journalist involved had apologised to him.