User:Femi Fani Kayode

Femi Fani-Kayode was born in lagos, Nigeria on 16th October 1960 and was christened Oluwafemi Adewunmi Fani-Kayode. He is a lawyer and he was the special assistant(public affairs) to president Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006. He was appointed the minister of culture and tourism of the federal republic of Nigeria from June 22nd to November 7th 2006 and as the minister of aviation from November 7th 2006 to may 29th 2007. Lineage:                                                                                                                       Femi Fani-Kayode comes from an illustrious and well-established lineage. He was born to the Kayode family of ile-ife. His great-grand father, reverend ernest adedapo Kayode studied at durham university in the u.k where he got his b.a degree and from where he went into christian ministry and was ordained as a minister of the anglican church. He was one of those responsible for bringing christianity to ile-ife and other parts of south –western nigeria where he served as resident pastor. His grand father, mr. Victor adetokunbo Kayode studied law at cambridge university (selwyn college) and went on to become one of the first and most respected indegenious judges in nigeria. He was married to one of the brightest stars of lagos high society in those days, mrs aurora Kayode (nee fanimokun). She was the daughter of rev.saburi fanimokun who was also an anglican priest and the first nigerian principal of c.m.s grammar school, lagos. Aurora Kayode, attended  durham university, u.k  and it was during that period that she met  her husband victor adetokunbo Kayode  who was at that time studying law at cambridge university. They had four sons and two daughters and one of those sons, remilekun adetokunbo Kayode, was born in chelsea, england in  1922. Remilekun Kayode was so close to his mother that he attached the prefix of her maiden name (fani) to his father’s name and that was how the name “fani-Kayode” was created. Remilekun fani-Kayode like his father, was brilliant and he went to cambridge university  (downing college) after which he did the british bar examinations  where he came top in that year for  the whole of the british commonwealth. He was called to the british bar and he went on to be appointed queen counsel (q c)  and later senior advocate of nigeria ( san). He set up the first indigeneous  nigerian  law firm in 1948  with rotimi williams and bode thomas who were  also  both brilliant lawyers that had been trained at  cambridge university. The law firm was called “thomas,williams and Kayode”. All three of them went on to distinguish themselves in the legal profession  and  in  politics and remilekun  fani –Kayode, after being elected as the leader of the n.c.n.c opposition in the western house of assembly, later became  the minister of local government affairs and the deputy premier of the old western region of nigeria in the early  1960’s. Remilekun fani-Kayode got married to adia adunni fani-Kayode (nee said), whose mother agbeke said (nee williams ), was the daughter of the famous isa williams,one of the greatest and wealthiest muslim leaders, businessmen and traders in lagos in his day. Her father, nurudeen said was a well known and respected civil servant from lagos. Their daughter adia adunni fani-Kayode  became a devout and practising christian before getting married to remilekun fani Kayode and later became a leading member of the pentecostal church. The two of them had five beautiful children: akinola, rotimi (the famous artist who passed on in 1989), femi, toyin and tolu. Femi fani-Kayode was the third child and the  youngest son of his  distinguished parents.

Education:                                                                                                                          femi  fani-Kayode started his primary school education at the age of  8 at  brighton college,brighton in the u.k  after which he went to a prestigeous boarding school called  holmewood house preparatory school in tunbridge wells, south-east england. After distinguishing himself in prep school he gained entry  into the famous harrow school in harrow on the hill, united kingdom and later  on into kelly college in  tavistock, u.k, where he completed the rest of his public school education. From there femi fani-Kayode proceeded to the university of london (school of oriental and african studies) where he got his first degree in law. After finishing at london university, he gained entry into cambridge university (pembroke college) where his grandfather and his father had previously read law. At cambridge femi fani-Kayode matched his father’s score in his final exams by also getting a very high upper second in his post graduate l.l.m  degree.after finishing from cambridge he went to the nigerian law school and in 1985 was called to  the  nigerian bar. In 1993 he decided to go back to school. This time he attended the famouse christian action faith bible seminary in accra, ghana .there femi fani-Kayode  bagged a degree in theology and  it was during this  period  that he  became  a  devout  and  practising pentecostal christian.

Professional career : After leaving law school in 1985 femi fani-Kayode worked in the law firm of the legendary rotimi williams  in lagos  after  which  he moved to his father’s law  firm “fani- Kayode and sowemimo chambers”. After working there for three years  he was promoted to the position of a senior partner in the chambers.

Political career : Femi fani-Kayode showed signs of rare courage and distinct traits of leadership very early in life.this was particularly manifested by the fact that in 1988 he set up a group called “september club” which was a truly national group made up of many newbreed politicians and young professionals  in nigeria  and he was elected leader of that group at a relatively young age. He was one of the most prominent members of the n.n.c, a major political association and undoubtedly the largest political organisation in nigeria in 1989. He was elected the national youth leader of n.n.c that same year. In 1990, he was appointed as chief press secretary to tom ikimi ,the first national chairman of the national republican convention (n.r.c)  and then later in 1991 as special assistant to the highly respected umaru shinkafi , former head of the nigerian security organisation (nso) and the leading presidential aspirant of the party. In 1996, disturbed by the massive oppression and persecution that  the  people of nigeria  were  being  subjected  to   by gen. Sani  abacha’s  vicious  military  junta, femi fani-Kayode went into self-exile  and  pitched his tent with  the  national democratic coalition (nadeco) abroad  where  he  played a very active role in the fight against abacha  and for  the  restoration  of democracy  in nigeria. He eventually came back to nigeria in the year 2001 and in that same year he met president olusegun obasanjo who encouraged him about the future of nigeria and rekindled his faith in the possibility of a truly united and new nigeria. In 2002  femi fani-Kayode  helped to establish and became one of the pioneers of the famous progressive action movement (pam), a very strong political movement of young, new and dynamic politicians. At the beginning of 2003, femi fani-Kayode was appointed by president olusegun obasanjo as a member of his presidential campaign team for the 2003 presidential election. After president obasanjo won  that  election  femi fani-Kayode  was appointed as the first ever special assistant on public affairs to the president of the federal republic of nigeria. Since then he has been highly celebrated in the country for his total  loyalty and commitment to president olusegun obasanjo  and his courageous verbal and written submissions and commentories. Femi fani-Kayode is also widely acknowledged as being one of the most brilliant and  formidable  debaters  of  his generation. He is a powerful, passionate and persuasive public speaker. In 2006 he was appointed as the  honourable minister of culture and tourism. That same year after a minor cabinet re-shuffle  he was re-deployed  to the aviation ministry  as the honourable minister of aviation where he did an excellent job  by bringing to an end the terrible cycle of  plane crashes that took place in nigeria  just before he came into that office.

Witch-hunt:

After president olusegun obasanjo relinquished power in 2007, an unprecedented wave of virulent  criticism, false accusations , misrepresentations  and persecution  was unleashed on him and all those that worked closely with him from various quarters. Femi fani-Kayode was not left out and has had his own fair share. Despite this he has resolved to continue to play a role in the affairs of his country well  into the  distant future. Family: Femi fani-Kayode is happily married to regina fani-Kayode (nee hanson-amonoo) who hails from a distinguished ghanian family and who is a pastor and a rising figure in the intercessionary ministry of the pentecostal church. He has five beautiful children: oluwafolakemi, oluwatemitope, oluwatobiloba, oluwatumininu and oluwaremilekun. Hobbies: Reading christian literature, playing polo, practising karate and boxing, watching rugby, studying eschatology , studying european history and literature, writing articles ,breeding and raising high pedigree guard dogs and shooting.

Published articles: He has written over 150 articles in the last 20 years which have been published in various national and international journals and newspapers. They include: the dodo syndrome ; a failed state ; jurisprudential perspectives ; the curse of aole ; masters of our soul ; nigeria…the emerging giant; a new millenium ; the prophets of baal ; the deification of a general ; the hobbled giant, the hunch back and a case for a soverign national conference;  just to mention  a few. Favourite writers: c.s lewis  and william shakespeare.