Jonathan Bashing: Fani-Kayode Has to Be Rescued from... Self

Chief David Oluwafemi Adewunmi Abdulateef Fani-Kayode (Femi Fani-Kayode, for short), former Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to former President Olusegun Obasanjo; former Minister of Culture and Tourism, and former Minister of Aviation, is truly a remarkable fellow.

Whenever he speaks or writes, he poses an intellectual challenge as to where to draw the line between normality and abnormality.

The instances are numerous, but his last outing: “The Gutless Eunuch and the Lion King”, published on January 14, 2014, raised critical issues which the psychiatric community must tackle in the interest of the nation.

For the benefit of those who may not have any knowledge of the background and upbringing of the former Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode was born into an educated, well-to-do family. He had the opportunity of a good education and successfully graduated into the legal profession. Then, he went off the mark and has never been the same since then.

The truth, however, is that it is strongly believed that a large number of psychologically ill patients suffer from recidivism – meaning that they are never totally healed.

However, it would be a colossal error to think that Fani-Kayode is an insane person who should, therefore, be treated accordingly. Of course, if he were, the asylum should be his permanent home and Nigerians would not take seriously whatever he says. He would probably neither have been appointed by Obasanjo as a presidential aide nor passed the Senate screening to become a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (some believe that there are many Nigerians in such high positions who cannot pass any psychiatric screening). If Fani-Kayode were categorised as insane, his actions and utterances would not be legally actionable.

Granting Fani-Kayode the benefit of the doubt, we must concede that he is a normal human being-although with some personal idiosyncrasies – who, like the rest of us, must be held accountable for his own actions. After all, apart from alleged acts of crass impunity and corruption when he held public office, Fani-Kayode was really not declared mentally ill by any qualified psychiatrist. Besides, he has been actively involved in politics, initially as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before moving to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from where he has become the most vitriolic critic of the Jonathan administration. Indeed, neither the PDP nor the APC has perceived Fani-Kayode as an unstable person.