Fani Kayode Reacts To Viral Video Of Him Insulting Journalist During Press Conference

Femi Fani-Kayode, former Aviation Minister, on Tuesday reacted to a viral video of him insulting and verbally attacking a Daily Trust’s correspondent, Eyo Charles at a press conference over a question in Calabar, Cross River State.

Fani-Kayode disclosed that the journalist in question did not ask a question but insulted him.

In the video, Fani-Kayode could be heard shouting at the journalist while others sat back and watched.

The PDP chieftain had held a press conference in Cross River State at the end of his tour of states in the South-South region controlled by the party.

The ex-minister in a viral video that got leaked on Tuesday was seen attacking the journalist and calling him stupid for asking the ex-minister if his tour was being sponsored by any politician or political group.

The press conference was held after Fani-Kayode inspected some ongoing projects by Governor Ben Ayade, one of which is the superhighway that would stretch from the Atlantic Ocean in Bakassi to the boundary of Benue State and the proposed deep seaport.

The former minister said the reporter was “very stupid” and that he did not need anyone to bankroll his tour.

“I am saying this on live TV. What type of stupid question is that? Bankrolling who? Do you know who you are talking to? I will not take any questions from this man,” he said.

“What type of insulting question is that? Which bankroll? To do what? Who can give me money for anything? Who do you think you are talking to? Go and report yourself to your publisher? Please don’t insult me here.

” I don’t want to take any questions from this man. “I could see from your face before you got here, how stupid you are. Don’t ever talk to me like that. Who do you think you’re talking to. Bankroll who? You think I am one of those ones you… from who, when, how? You have a small mind, very small mind. Don’t judge me by your own standards.

“I have been in politics since 1990. I have been locked up many times by this government. Suffered. I have been persecuted unlike most of the politicians you follow for brown envelope. Don’t ever judge me by that standard. I spend I don’t take and I am not a poor man — I have never been and I will never be.”

“At the end of the video, some of the reporter’s colleagues were seen blaming him for asking such a question as well.”

Reacting to the footage, the former minister claimed that his “political enemies” used the said journalist to insult him.

In a tweet, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chieftain insisted that he had no apologies to offer for his action.

In a series of tweets, Fani-Kayode wrote: “During my tour of the South and after a long and successful press conference in Calabar, Cross Rivers state, a journalist put up his hand for the last question and said, “Well we do not know who is bankrolling you”.

“This is not a question but an assertion and an insult.

“And if this insulting ASSERTION were made before Trump or OBJ I know how they would have reacted. Above is my response and I have no apology to offer for it. The young man apologised to me during the press conference and sent his apologies to me after the conference.

“I have accepted his apologies and moved on. I have always had respect for journalists and always will. Those of them that know me or worked with or for me over the last 30 years can attest to that.

However, there is a distinction between asking a question & offering an insult.

“This is all the more so when it is clear that the assertion was sponsored and engineered by my political enemies who wanted to use the young man to insult and embarrass me and question my integrity. Well, they got more than they bargained for.

“I repeat this was not a question but an assertion and a gratuitous insult and I will not accept that from any man born of woman. Thank you.”