Twenty four hours after he issued his first retraction over his
comment about Bianca Ojukwu, Femi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria’s former Aviation
Minister, has withdrawn the same comment over the two other ladies
mentioned in the controversial article.
In addition to Mrs. Ojukwu, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, Mr
Fani-Kayode had written that he had also had a “long standing and
intimate relationship” with Chioma Anasoh and Adaobi Uchegbu.
Although he had since expressed “deepest regrets” over the comments
about the ladies which the public had interpreted as ‘sexual relations;’
Mr. Fani-Kayode, in a statement through his lawyer, on Friday, said
that he had withdrawn the comments.
”Our client knew Miss Chioma Anasoh between the years of 2004 and
2008 and Miss Adaobi Uchegbu between the years of 2002 and 2004,” Mr.
Fani-Kayode said through his lawyer, Rotimi Akinola.
”They were good friends at the time. He has not seen Miss Anasoh for
five years and he has not seen Miss Uchegbu for nine years.
”As our client said earlier through his press secretary, some of the
words he used to describe his friendship with Miss Anasoh and Miss
Uchegbu on his article titled ‘A Word For Those Who Call Me A Tribalist’
were indiscreet.
”He hereby withdraws those words,” the statement added.
Mr. Fani-Kayode’s article, published last month, had elicited
intense reactions from friends and relatives of the ladies he
mentioned.
Mrs. Ojukwu, wife of the late Biafran warlord, Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu-Ojukwu, had threatened to pursue a legal action if the former
minister fails to retract his comment.
Mr. Fani-Kayode publicly withdrew his comment about the former beauty queen on Thursday.
However, Ms. Uchegbu declined to react to Mr. Fani-Kayode’s claims,
merely stating that “restraint in the face of provocation” is a key
factor in leadership.
”Some jobless Nigerians who don’t want peace in our country have
been calling me to come out and fight Chief Femi Fani-Kayode and all
Yorubas publicly,” Ms. Uchegbu, who worked at the office of the Peoples’
Democratic Party’s National Chairman, said in a Facebook post.
”But I have one thing to say – that is not the way I fight.”
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