You shall never become president, Fani-Kayode blasts Obi over NADECO post

A former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode has launched an attack on Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, predicting that he would never lead Nigeria.

The attack comes after Obi compared current politicians who once championed pro-democracy activism unfavourably to late military dictator Sani Abacha.

Fani-Kayode, in a post on X on Friday, described Obi’s remarks as “way beyond politics,” saying they had “assaulted the senses and wounded the sensitivities of all those who lost their lives, liberty and loved ones during the struggle against fascism, dictatorship and military rule.”

“To mock the memory of those that died fighting for democracy in the June 12th struggle and sacrificed their lives and liberty as members of NADECO in this way is unacceptable and unforgivable. Simply put, it is despicable,” he wrote.

Fani-Kayode declared Obi’s political prospects finished.

“You shall NEVER become President of our nation,” he said.

The outburst was a response to a post Obi published on Thursday, in which the former Anambra governor said it was a historical irony that former NADECO activists now governed in ways worse than the dictatorship they once opposed.

“What an irony of history, that the acclaimed defenders of democracy and human rights who claimed to have fought for democracy during the era of General Sani Abacha now find themselves worse than the man they opposed,” Obi wrote.

He went further, saying Abacha “will be remembered as seemingly more democratic and more respectful of human rights than the so-called champions of activism from the NADECO days,” adding: “Power indeed reveals character.”

Obi did not name any individual in the post, but his remarks were widely read against the backdrop of an ongoing crisis within the African Democratic Congress, where the Independent National Electoral Commission derecognised the David Mark-led executive following a court ruling.

Opposition figures have accused the ruling All Progressives Congress of engineering the crisis ahead of the 2027 general elections, allegations which the APC have since denied.