THE STORY TELLER HAS NOT TOLD STORIES A WHILE BECAUSE THE ELECTION NOW OCCUPIES THE TOP BURNER. BUT AFTER READING A PIECE BY FEMI FANI-KAYODE, HE DECIDED TO TELL THIS STORY TO CLOSE THE YEAR.
Akin Omoz-Oarhe wrote:
Personally, I support return of history to our school curriculum. But in truth, even when that is done, whose version of history will be taught and will this type of story be part of it?
FEMI FANI-KAYODE SAYS.
"My family have been a members of Nigeria ruling elite for four generations. I cannot be silenced or intimidated by a coven of ill tailored peasant or any man born of a woman. I was born to lead or resist evil, to fight tyranny, to speak truth to power and to stand up for the opppressed".
MY STORY OF THIS "4 GENERATION" OF RULING ELITES
Talking about four generations of the Fani Kayodes, he was rightly counting from....
**First Generation - FFK's Great Grand father who had a Masters degree in 1885 from Durham University.
**Second Generation- FFKs Grand father who was called to bar in 1921 having graduated from Cambridge.
**Third Generation - FFKs father who was called Remi Fani-Kayode. He was a brilliant young man that graduated from Cambridge, one of British top Universities and called to bar at just 24. He was the third and youngest Nigerian to be made Queens Counsel just as he was also the third Nigerian to be made an SAN. When he returned to Nigeria after his studies he went into politics and rose to become Deputy Premier of Western Region under SL Akintola, at just 42. He was the only Deputy Premier, Nigeria ever had and that makes me doubt the constitutionality of that position. All the same, he was.
If "Good" can be ascribed to the first and second generations of this highly cerebral family, the one that represented the third generation terminated all of that. Remi, Fani-Kayode imported thugry into Nigeria politics. His version of thuggery manifested in what is now known as "Operation Wetie".
In the early 1960s Akintola, premier of Western Nigeria had broken from Awolowos Action Group, AG, to form his own political party - Nigeria National Democratic Party, NNDP. Western Regional election was approaching and the tussle was between AG and NNDP.
Now let's have a glance at a typical campaign day of Remi, which as a little boy, I witnessed in Ibadan in 1964/1965.
Remi had four Jeeps and about 20 thugs. Each of the jeeps had in it about 10, 4-litre cans of petrol. These were driven slowly behind the gang along Oke Ado street where incarcerated Awo's family house was. Fani-Kayode was in shorts and walked at the front while his thugs lined behind him. The time is 4 pm. All were puffing rather big cigarettes wrapped in ordinary "2A" sheet of paper. I heard someone say they were smoking "India Hemp". As they walked along the the street which was very quickly getting deserted, a shout emanated from one of the thugs: "FANIIIIIIII"! Others responded "POWEEERR"! The chorus seemed to have alerted some women selling oranges, rice, gari, beans etc by the road shoulder. Pronto! They started packing their wares and ran to nearby houses that quickly admitted them in and locked their doors. Some of the women were not fast enough at packing up but all the same ran leaving the basins of rice and beans. When the gang got there, they overturned the basins and kicked off the tables. You could see many faces peeping through the windows of the houses as the "King of the Road" strutted along.
At intervals the gang may meet a man on the road who hadn't fled. In a jiffy, he is surrounded. The man is instructed when to say "Power". Then that shout "Faniiiiii" rang out and the man responded "Power". That was done three times after which Remi ordered "Wetie". One of the cans of petrol is emptied on him. A match is struck. Then you see a fleeing ball of fire. It drops, soon after. Some wringling on the ground. Then still. In this 10 minute spectacle, the gang had moved on. No time to waste. About 5 of that could be handled in just one evening.
In some cases, they actually knock at the door of the house of a known opponent who they dragged out and gave the same treatment. If luckily the man was not seen, the entire house is razed.
There were no street lights at night but most nights the streets where lighted by burning houses.
Is this the political leadership the son of Remi called, Femi Fani-Kayode, is talking about?????
On the night of 15th January 1966, the first military coup had been planned. Politicians earmarked for death were:
*The Prime Minister of Nigeria - Tafawa Balewa a Fulani from Bauhi
*The premier of the North - Ahmadu Bello, a Fulani from Sokoto.
*The premier of the West- Samuel Akintola, a Yoruba from Ogbomosho.
*The Federal Minister for Finance - Festus Okotie Eboh, an Itsekiri from Midwest. He was said to be very rich and just too close to both Tafawa Balewa and Ahmadu Belo for comfort.
Those that may not have to die were:
*The Premier of the East, Michael Okpara, an Igbo from Umuahia.
*The Premier of the MidWest, Denis Osadebe, an Igbo from Asaba.
The deputy premier of the West, Remi Fani Kayode, a Yoruba from Ile-Ife was actually not supposed to be in the scheme of those to die but without him, it may not be easy to kill Akintola who had gotten wind of the coup and actually just returned from Kaduna after warning Ahmadu Bello. He was armed and may give good resistance to the coup ploters. The plotters had done their homework. Remi Fani-Kayode will be useful
In Ibadan, the first port of call was the home of Fani Kayode. The team was well armed. They expected a very tough fight with Remi. The man had well armed, powerful and had well trained thugs, all on drugs that will give any good army a tough fight. They got to the house and positioned themselves. The leader reviewed their positions many times to make sure nothing went wrong. Then they blarred their presence asking Remi Fani-Kayode to surrender. They were sweating blood. Bombs and granade were likely to start flying at them. Their index fingers already pressuring their guns triggers. Then, the unexpected.......
Remi Fani Kayode walked out with hands on his head. Surrendered. There was no need for even a catapult. They only needed to send two boys to bring him.
Remi Fani-Kayode IS A COWARD!
Now to the real battle. To the home of SL Akintola. The wife of Fani Kayode had already called Akintola to tell him what was up. Her husband had been taken. SL did not know that the operation would start so soon after he just returned from Kaduna. He is a bold man and was not going to die of gun shot on his back. He would die fighting. He was ready when the truck drove in. He stood at a vantage position at the front door from where he would pluck them one by one. The story has it that he had already gotten one of them down when he heard a familiar voice. It was the voice of his trusted, tough deputy - Remi. Remi screamed to him: "Stop shooting. They are friendly Soldiers". Peace rained down on Akintola. They are friendly soldiers. He dropped his gun. Opened the door to meet these friendly soldiers. As he did, Pratatata-Pratatata-Pratatata. The man died by the door. Remi lived and died only in 1995 almost 30 years after.
Remi Fani-Kayode IS A TRAITOR.
When these were happening the first son of Remi, Femi Fani-Kayode was only 5 years. He grew up to be a clone of his father. Like Saraki, Femi Fani-Kayode was also cursed by his father before his death. If you press me hard enough, I will tell you why when I handle an aspect of the story of this 4th Generation Fani-Kayode...
source:https://samueljackson12.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-story-teller-has-not-told-stories.html
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