On the heels of threats by Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu to drag Chief Femi Fani-Kayode to court for suggesting that they were lovers in college, the former Aviation minister today insisted he did not lie about his relationship with Mrs Ojukwu.
Mrs Ojukwu has demanded a retraction and an apology from Fani-Kayode whose claim she described as malicious, unfounded, false and calculated to lower her self esteem.
Her attorneys gave the former minister seven days to apoogise and retract in two national dailies and online.
Below is the full text of his reaction
This morning Cheif Femi Fani-Kayode woke up to find a letter that was published as an advertorial in Thisday Newspaper purportedly by Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu’s lawyer threatening to sue him for mentioning her in his article and claiming that she has never met him before. She also said that he was being malicious. The matter has of course been referred to Chief Fani-Kayode’s lawyers who will now take it up.
Ordinarily he would have not have said a word about this matter because he sympathises with her for whatever she may have been going through.
However now that she has put it in the public realm Cheif Fani-Kayode is compelled to formally respond. To the assertion that he never knew her and that they were never friends he says this is false and he asks why would he lie? The public evidence is to the contrary. Chief Fani-Kayode would not want to say anything to embarrass her because that would be ungentlemanly.
He sympathises with her delicate situation and once again he expresses his regrets about the fact that his statement about her was misconstrued. We shall just leave it at that.
-Chief Femi Fani-Kayode hereby expresses his deepest regrets for mentioning the names of three distinguished Nigerian ladies that he was once associated with in his last article titled ”A Word For Those Who Say I am A Tribalist”. He meant no harm by doing so and neither did he at any point make references to having had any sexual relations with any of these ladies when they were associated with him as is being suggested by some members of the public. He was simply trying to emphasize the fact that he has nothing against the igbo people and that his friendship with these three ladies in particular over the years provided some evidence of that.
For the record he has not seen Madame Chioma Anasoh, Chief Adaobi Kate Uchegbu and Ambassador Bianca Onoh in many years and he admits that it was inappropriate for him to have mentioned their names in the essay, to use them as a point of reference in a public discussion or to make any references whatsoever to the nature of their past association. All references to them have been erased from the updated version of the essay.
Chief Fani-Kayode has reached two of the ladies concerned and he has personally conveyed his unreserved apology to them both and to their families for his indiscretion. He shall endeavour to reach the third lady to do the same in the next few days. Chief Fani-Kayode has nothing more to say on this matter and would prefer to remain focused on issues of national importance and not of a personal nature”-
Mr. Bisi Lawal, Press Secretary to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode