Former Minister of Aviation and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Femi Fani-Kayode has engaged Ben Llewellyn-Jones, British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria in a war of words after the British envoy expressed displeasure over perceived controversial comments made by the former Aviation Minister.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Llewellyn-Jones in an interview with Nigeria Info FM criticised Fani-Kayode, who is also an APC presidential campaign council’s director of new media, over perceived controversial comments he made during the electoral season.
When asked if there were triggers of violence leading up from the campaign to the election, the UK envoy said he was puzzled as to why Fani-Kayode would make such statements, adding that the APC should have distanced itself from the former minister’s utterances.
“Yes, let’s be specific, there were some people, like Femi Fani-Kayode, what is he saying and why is he saying it? I don’t understand.
“It is wrong from my perspective that he will speak on behalf of a party and that party does not distance itself from him and say stop doing that. It is wrong to say that.
“To me it is really important, people who have said I am part of a party’s press and media campaign, well, the party itself should say no you are not, and you should stop and we do not agree.
“I know that some leaders very clearly said we are about unity, and that is good, I encourage that.
“The problem is if you get the other people over here, who are very clearly associated with the party and giving you another message, and there isn’t any kind of calling out of that. What would you take from that as a voter?” Llewellyn-Jones said.
The deputy high commissioner resounded the UK visa ban threat to those undermining democracy, adding that about 10 persons were on the growing watchlist.
“We watched very closely. We have a list, we are working through our list but we don’t publish those names. I know people say we should, but we have laws, and the law prevents us from doing that,” he said.
“We said we will do this and we will do this. And we are gathering the kind of information that will enable us do this, on specific individuals. At the moment the list is between 5 and 10 and it is growing,” the British envoy disclosed.
However, in a swift reaction, Fani-Kayode took to Twitter to fire at Llewellyn-Jones, stressing that he cannot be intimidated by threat of visa ban.
He wrote: “These are my personal views and I am constrained to express them given the fact that one @benllewellynjo1, a misguided, mischievous and clearly unlettered Englander who does not know his place, threw away all caution and mentioned my name in his inglorious commentary.
“I would advise this Ben, who I am told is the Deputy High Commissioner of the UK to Nigeria, to keep his dirty nose out of our internal affairs. Nigeria stopped being a British colony 63 years ago and we need no lessons from him on how to run our affairs or conduct our politics.
“I know that his preferred candidate did not win the presidential election but that does not mean he should cross the line and take liberties with us here. I wonder who the hell he thinks he is?
“I am not one of those Nigerians that bows, shakes, shivers and trembles before the British or indeed any other foreigner. And unlike most I do not need any validation or endorsement from him or his ilk and neither can I be intimidated by his veiled threat of a visa ban. Frankly I could not care less.
“I would however take this opportunity to assure him that regardless of his views and desire to compel us to accept their godless so-called “humanist” and “libertarian” values and introduce evil practices and policies such as same-sex marriage in our country this will never be the case.
“My aversion for sod*mites remains as constant as the northern star and whether he likes it or not we will never allow a sod*mite to be our President.
“Neither will we accept lessons in decency, etiquette, what to say or how to speak from a fading British civil servant and a man that represents a nation that has committed more atrocities than perhaps any other in the history of humanity.
“I advise this little Englander to respect himself and remain a silent observer when it comes to the politics of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As a nation we are not a poodle of the British and we came of age 63 years ago.
“He should be more concerned about the shrinking fortunes of a once “Great Britain” and the systemic racism, inherent injustice and insufferable arrogance that is entrenched in the British establishment and society than in the intra party politics of Nigeria.
“He should also be more concerned with the efforts of his nation to bring us one step closer to WW3 given the unfolding events in Ukraine”.
He went further: “Permit me to add the followng addendum to my earlier personal response to the little Englander.
“I ask, who is this strange little British diplomat who believes he can tell us what Lagos state should be like in terms of ethnic make-up and how it should be run?
“He has accused me of hate speech and incitement simply because I said Lagos is not a no man’s land and that the Yoruba ought to be respected in their territory.
“Well let me say clearly and categorically that I have no apology for saying this and I stand by every word I said. We do not need any lessons from him.
“Foreign diplomats come to this country to enhance our relationship with theirs and not to give us lectures. They are not supposed to interfere in our internal affairs, to be partial, to tell us what to do or to tell us how to do it.
“They are meant to observe in studied silence and make their concerns and representations, if any, known privately. They cannot get into the political ring of fire. They cannot tell us how to vote, who to vote for, how to worship, what God to praise, who to marry, who not to marry and which party to support.
“Neither can they threaten us and impose their double standards and godless ‘woke’ and ‘globalist’ values on us. That strange little bald man with slooping shoulders at the British Embassy has really got a nerve.
“I will take up this matter formally. His diplomatic immunity is not absolute: it is qualified. He is therefore subject to our laws.
“As for his threats, I challenge him to do his very worst. We are not your slaves. Nigeria is an independent sovereign nation. We are no longer a colony. To hell with him and those that are egging him on and licking his feet. I am FFK: I fear no-one and I bow before no man.
“Until his Government hands Tony Blair and others over to the ICC at the Hague for crimes against humanity and war crimes commited in Iraq, Afghanistan and Serbia and apologises for the the over one hundred years of unspeakable atrocities committed against the people of Africa, India, China, Indo- China, Asia-minor, the West Indies and indeed all her former colonies, I will NEVER take the British seriously or at their word.
“Millions were slaughtered and enslaved under their brutal yoke whilst their strong economy was built on the blood, sweat and tears of Irish, African and Indian slaves.
“Despite that they have offered no apology or paid any reparations for their evil yet they insist on imposing a system of indirect rule over us. Who is the fool here? The days of dictation are long gone.
“What they are trying to do in our country and to our country will not work. Bola Tinubu won a free and fair election and, whether they like it or not, he will be sworn in on May 29th 2023.
“Those that want to impose an ING on our nation and follow it up with a civil war in an attempt to dismember and destroy her shall not prevail. Nigeria shall remain united, shall be at peace, shall flourish, shall we excel and democracy shall be alive and well in our nation for many years to come”.