After his controversial meetings with leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, days before, former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani- Kayode, on Tuesday evening also met with former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The former minister met with Jonathan at his Abuja home on Tuesday evening amidst rumour that he may have concluded plans to dump the Peoples Democratic Party for APC following his series of meeting with leaders of the ruling party in the past few days.
Fani-Kayode served former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s first President after the country return to democracy in 1999 as Special Assistant on Public Affairs.
Also, the PDP government in 2006 appointed him as the Minister of Culture and Tourism.
He was later redeployed to the Aviation Ministry as the minister the same year after a minor cabinet reshuffle.
But he had dumped PDP to join the yet to be registered APC in 2014.
“I had a meeting with Gov. Kayode Fayemi afterwards and I have just publicly and formally declared for the APC,” the former minister said. “For me this is a great and historic day. Goodbye forever PDP,” he said.
But despite his ‘goodbye forever PDP’ assertion, he returned to PDP just before 2015 general election after he also met with former President Jonathan.
He said his return to PDP, the he said then, followed his realization that Jonathan was a responsible leader.
PDP rewarded him with appointment as the Director of Media and Publicity of 2015 Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign organization.
With Jonathan failing to get re-elected as President, Fani-Kayode has emerged as a trenchant critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the APC government since 2015
Despite his history of ‘political instability’ Nigerians were nevertheless surprised when he met with Chairman, Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee Gov. Mai Mala Buni and Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello at a Guest House in Abuja on Sunday.
The closed-door meeting, which lasted for about an hour, was brokered by Bello, who is also chairman of the party’s Mobilisation and Sensitisation Committee for ongoing membership registration and revalidation exercise.
Fani-Kayode had a day before met with Bello in his Wuse Zone 6 residence in Abuja before he led the former Minister to the party Chairman’s Guest House.
He had also met with the APC Senator representing Kogi West in the Senate, Smart Adeyemi, a day before.
The former minister’s mostly anti Buhari/APC supporters and fans had criticized him over his meeting with officials of the ruling party.
Some top members of APC had also expressed their reservations about the prospect of Fani-Kayode’s return to their party.
Defending his meeting with the APC leaders, the former minister had in a statement posted on his Facebook page said it was about, “state of the nation, pressing national issues, party politics and the way forward. He also criticized those condemning the meeting