Read Part 1: To Atiku Abubakar: A Final Word for A Diminishing Star, By Femi Fani-Kayode [MUST READ]
Permit me to continue this contribution by sharing the words of Mr. Babachir Lawal, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation during the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said, “I loathe Atiku. He is not a good man and he is easy to manipulate by riff-raff. I would prefer to return to Tinubu than be with him. Under Atiku Nigeria would suffer a chaotic crash.”
These are strong words coming from a man who knows you better than most and who comes from your state.
He also said the following:
“Atiku is a man that doesn’t see life in you if you are not a Fulani man. You are nothing. He doesn’t see you if you are not a Fulani man… I can’t say maybe as a Muslim, but if you are not a Fulani man, you are entitled to nothing from him or for him or by him.”
Lawal’s words are instructive and plausible.
More importantly they provide the basis of an explanation for your pompous airs, vain mien, divisive nature, inexplicable errors of judgement, unacceptable behaviour, self-serving characteristics, treacherous disposition, deceitful ways, insatiable greed, pathological lust for power, insufferable arrogance and unfathomable and never-ending sense of entitlement.
Then there are the words of Governor Donald Duke, the former Governor of Cross River State and the presidential candidate of the PRP.
In August 2026, Duke shared an account from Seun Oloketuyi’s book ‘How to Win Elections in Nigeria’.
He described an informal meeting at the Presidential Villa involving former Head of State General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar, President Olusegun Obasanjo and you amid strained relations ahead of Obasanjo’s 2003 re-election bid.
Duke said your moves raised doubts about your loyalty leading Obasanjo to call him late one night complaining of betrayal.
At a later meeting that you arranged Babangida allegedly pulled Obasanjo aside and said,
“I warned you not to trust that your deputy.”
Returning to the group Babangida looked at you and told Obasanjo “this one cannot rule Nigeria.”
Assuming this account is accurate and factual, Babangida was right.
Whichever way, what cannot be disputed or doubted are Obasanjo’s words about you which he shared during the course of an interview with a television station on October 3rd 2018.
He said,
“Atiku Abubakar does not have the right sense of judgment and on a number of occasions I pointed this out to him. He complained too much and wasn’t able to understand or learn what it takes to be a President so I gave up.”
Obasanjo’s testimonial against you is damning.
He is clearly as incisive and insightful today as he was 50 years ago when he first took over the reins of power as Military Head of State and 27 years ago when he was first elected as President.
Though initially deceived, he eventually figured you out for what you are: a complicated and conflicted character and a deceptive and disloyal individual who covets the seat of his elders and betters and who does not have the discipline and courage to be loyal.
Simply put you cannot be trusted with power and may God help our country if it were to ever slip into your hands.
Some have argued that one week later, on October 11 2018, Obasanjo flipped and expressed his support for your presidential ambition during the course of a meeting in his Abeokuta home with you and some Christian and Muslim clerics after you won the primaries for the PDP ticket.
This is false.
At that meeting Obasanjo declared that he forgave you for your past sins but he did NOT give you a full scale and unequivocal endorsement.
As the late Obadiah Mailafia, the presidential candidate of the then ADC, argued at the time it was primarily a forgiveness and reconciliation exercise brokered by clerics and not a full political endorsement.
Obasanjo had previously been strongly opposed to you and in August 2018 had said, “God will not forgive me if I support Atiku”.
I concede that his public language may appear to have gone further than simple forgivenes at the 11th October meeting but those of us that know Obasanjo well recognise the fact that he was speaking tongue in cheek when he used the “President to be” words on receiving you in his home.
He was simply mocking you even though this may have been lost on you.
The truth is that this was not a clear, unambiguous campaign endorsement of the type Obasanjo has given other candidates.
The dominant theme was forgiveness after a review of past grievances with supportive language layered on top.
Obasanjo may have expressed forgiveness for you on that occasion after you prostrated before him and begged but the suggestion that he ever endorsed your candidacy is simply far-fetched.
Be rest assured that my criticism of you will not stop despite your words to me on WhatsApp or the puerile nonsense your minions are pushing out.
Permit me to add the following.
Since you raised the issue of credibility, this is for the record.
I was prosecuted in four courts over 18 years on criminal charges that were all politically motivated. There were four cases. I appeared before 12 judges, including at the Court of Appeal, and by the grace of God I won every one of them.
I was detained for 10 days in 2008, three months in 2016, and a further three months later that year: 6 months and 10 days in all, in hideous conditions.
For weeks I was held in the Boko Haram section of Kuje prison with only Boko Haram prisoners, to punish and silence me. It failed.
For those 18 years a daily media trial pronounced me guilty without evidence or conviction. Two of my wives and two of my children were harassed by the security forces.
One was locked in a bank in Ekiti with my one-year-old son, surrounded by armed men, for six hours, for no just cause.
I never complained publicly. I took it as a test from God, kept my faith, and trusted my lawyers.
I also trusted the Nigerian judiciary, which refused to be intimidated into jailing an innocent man.
I went through that storm with humility and dignity. I did not lament, claim persecution, or beg for a soft landing. Yet you question my credibility.
I will not let that go. I paid my dues, proved my innocence and earned my credibility.
Through it all I never broke. I counted it as joy and continuously gave thanks to God.
I am one of the most investigated and prosecuted politicians in Nigeria’s history.
The system wanted me jailed because I trod on powerful toes yet I was discharged and acquitted in every case.
I should add this.
In 2008, when my legal travails began, I took an oath that until I had been cleared of ALL my criminal charges and acquitted of every single one I would not step out of Nigeria for any reason.
After winning the first case in 2015 they hit me with two more in 2016 (one in Abuja and one in Lagos) and finally they hit me with another in 2021.
I have a beautiful home and family in Ghana and I have a home in the UK as well.
All my children, who are adults, live abroad and every single one of them, including my siblings has foreign passports and dual nationality which I am also entitled to because my father was born in the UK and I lived there for most of my life ever since I was 7 years old.
Yet despite all this, much to the shock of my lawyers, children, wives, family members, Pastors, staff, friends and political associates, for those 18 years when I faced one politically-motivated criminal prosecution after the other I did not travel abroad once, I did not go to see my wife and older children, I did not go for a medical check-up and I never once complained publicly about being persecuted but rather fought my battles humbly and quietly in the courtroom with prayer, bore my pain with dignity and continued to make my contribution to politics and public commentary as if all was well.
I kept my oath not to step out of my beloved Nigeria until the cases were over no matter what and it was only after I won my final case on February 4th 2025 that I gave myself the green light to leave the country.
Many will ask why this was so and the reason, though old fashioned, is simple: unlike others I could not carry the shame of being accused of things I never did and then be travelling all over the world as if I had no issues at home.
Honor could not allow me to do such a thing.
I felt that I owed my family name and integrity and especially my late biological father Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, my late political mentor Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, my political father, President Olusegun Obasanjo and my spiritual father Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams, the father of the Pentecostal movement in Ghana, that much.
I felt I needed to prove to them all that their son would stand and fight for his name at home before leaving the country and gallivanting all over the world again so that when I do leave I would be doing so without blemish or question marks and with my head held high.
As difficult as it was and despite the pleading of my wives and loved ones to do otherwise and at least travel for holidays and medical check-ups I refused to do so.
Instead I paid the price of pain and isolation, I honored my oath and word and I trusted that God, having seen my faith in Him and sacrifice of not leaving the shores of my country for all those years, would fight for me all the more.
I was right, He did and I give Him thanks.
And by the way in all those 18 years despite the fact that I was in the accused box in one court or the other literally every two weeks, I only missed the court sitting on five occasions!
All this and you suggest that I do not have credibility?
My credibility, courage and resilience have been tested for over a stretch of 18 years and I have come out with flying colors whereas yours have not!
That is the bitter truth.
Only when you and your gang of slanderers and accusers of the brethren have faced the same scrutiny, the same ordeal and come out clean and cleared of every charge can you talk to me about credibility.
The truth is that you do not know the meaning of the word and over the coming months you will be exposed for the incompetent, power-hungry megalomaniac and despicable narcissist that you are and the Nigerian people will be made aware of how your quest for power is a grave danger to the welfare, unity and future of the Nigerian state.
Permit me to conclude with the following.
Some may argue that your treachery and rebellion against Obasanjo was an isolated event but let me remind you that your propensity to betray others was not limited to him.
Consider the following.
You betrayed Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, your mentor, and ran away with your tail between your legs to live abroad when he was wrongly jailed and eventually murdered.
You betrayed Olusegun Obasanjo who made you Vice President.
You betrayed Umaru Yar’Adua, opposed him when he ran for the Presidency, left the PDP after he won and refused to stand by him when he fell critically ill and later died even though he was the younger brother of your mentor Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who had literally picked you from the gutter and brought you into politics.
You betrayed Bola Ahmed Tinubu who saved your political career and rehabilitated you by bringing you into his party ACN.
You betrayed Goodluck Ebele Jonathan after he brought you back to PDP.
You betrayed Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu again after they brought you into the APC.
You betrayed Nyesom Wike and the PDP after they let you back into their ranks and gave you their presidential ticket in 2019.
You not only betrayed but also destroyed and shattered the soul and foundation of the PDP in 2023 after you violated their zoning formula, conspired with others to deny the South the presidential ticket even though it was their turn, took it for yourself and split the party.
Finally you betrayed the ADC, whose flag you are now flying, by hijacking it from a hard-working and decent young man called Nafiu Bala Gombe and then later splitting it up by driving away leaders like Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, compelling them to go and form their own party and rigging your way into getting the presidential ticket.
Are these constant betrayals and habitual acts of sabotage and treachery what you would describe as credible behaviour Waziri?
If you believe so then you really do need to see a psychiatrist.
I urge you not to send me anymore private messages.
If you have anything to say to me, say it yourself and say it publicly.
Needless to say I will respond with vigour.
That is what being credible is all about!
Despite all this, I still refuse to call you Kachalla.
A final word which is borne out of love and concern for someone who was once our Vice President.
It is clear to me that you are suffering from frustration which has led to depression.
I say this because it is very rare to see a man that is over 80 years old being openly rude.
My fear for you is when you lose the election that you will not suffer a mental breakdown.
Your family and loved ones must take this seriously.
Be rest assured that I will be one of those praying you.
Shalom Waziri.
Femi Fani-Kayode is a former Minister of Culture and Tourism, a former Minister of Aviation, Nigeria’s Ambassador-Designate to South Africa, Lesotho and Estawani, the Sadaukin Shinkafi, the Wakilin Doka Potiskum, the Otunba of Joga Orile, the Aare Ajagunla of Otun Ekiti and a Legal Practitioner.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
