Twenty four hours after he issued his first retraction over his comment about Bianca Ojukwu, Femi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria’s former Aviation Minister, has withdrawn the same comment over the two other ladies mentioned in the controversial article.
In addition to Mrs. Ojukwu, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, Mr Fani-Kayode had written that he had also had a “long standing and intimate relationship” with Chioma Anasoh and Adaobi Uchegbu.
Although he had since expressed “deepest regrets” over the comments about the ladies which the public had interpreted as ‘sexual relations;’ Mr. Fani-Kayode, in a statement through his lawyer, on Friday, said that he had withdrawn the comments.
”Our client knew Miss Chioma Anasoh between the years of 2004 and 2008 and Miss Adaobi Uchegbu between the years of 2002 and 2004,” Mr. Fani-Kayode said through his lawyer, Rotimi Akinola.
”They were good friends at the time. He has not seen Miss Anasoh for five years and he has not seen Miss Uchegbu for nine years.
”As our client said earlier through his press secretary, some of the words he used to describe his friendship with Miss Anasoh and Miss Uchegbu on his article titled ‘A Word For Those Who Call Me A Tribalist’ were indiscreet.
”He hereby withdraws those words,” the statement added.
Mr. Fani-Kayode’s article, published last month, had elicited intense reactions from friends and relatives of the ladies he mentioned.
Mrs. Ojukwu, wife of the late Biafran warlord, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, had threatened to pursue a legal action if the former minister fails to retract his comment.
Mr. Fani-Kayode publicly withdrew his comment about the former beauty queen on Thursday.
However, Ms. Uchegbu declined to react to Mr. Fani-Kayode’s claims, merely stating that “restraint in the face of provocation” is a key factor in leadership.
”Some jobless Nigerians who don’t want peace in our country have been calling me to come out and fight Chief Femi Fani-Kayode and all Yorubas publicly,” Ms. Uchegbu, who worked at the office of the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s National Chairman, said in a Facebook post.
”But I have one thing to say – that is not the way I fight.”
No comments:
Post a Comment