By: Femi Fani-Kayode<\/p>\n
As I was about to enter the hall to deliver my speech at the
\nAnaedoonline 1st year Anniversary Lecture in Nnewi, Anambra state
\nyesterday my lawyer and a member of my delegation, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor,
\nand I were approached by the DSS and told that he must not attend the
\nevent.<\/p>\n
They said that if he insisted on attending the occassion with me the
\nvenue would be sealed up and the entire event would be stopped and not
\nallowed to hold.<\/p>\n
They said they had orders from Abuja to stop him from attending because,
\napart from being my lawyer, he is also the lawyer to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu
\nand IPOB.<\/p>\n
I was shocked. This was a clear case of not just persecution but also
\nguilt by association. I wondered whether being a lawyer to my friend and
\nbrother\u00a0 Mazi Nnamdi Kanu or to IPOB was now a crime?<\/p>\n
My stomach turned as I listened to the words of the\u00a0 DSS operative. I
\ntook a deep breath, restrained myself and kept repeating to myself,
\n“FFK, do not lose that famous temper of yours!”<\/p>\n
Had it not been for my love and respect for Chief Innocent Chukwuma, the
\nChairman of Innoson Motors who hosted me, Anaedoonline, the organisers
\nof the event who invited me, Professor Kingsly Moghalu, the Chairman of
\nthe event who is a dear friend and N’digbo generally who are my in-laws,
\nI would have turned back there and then and not graced the occassion
\nwith my prescence.<\/p>\n
This was coupled with the fact that Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor himself insisted
\non abiding by their shameful directive in order to save the event.
\nAmidst my protestations he volunteered to stay back and insisted that I
\nstill attend the proceedings and go ahead and make my speech.<\/p>\n
Apart from that my decision to still go ahead was reinforced by the fact
\nthat getting annoyed and turning back or making a scene, which could
\nhave had volatile and dangerous consequences, was precsiely what the FG
\nand the DSS wanted.<\/p>\n
The whole thing was designed to provoke me to anger and not go on with
\nthe show. I saw through that and I was not prepared to give them the
\npleasure.<\/p>\n
Consequently I proceeded to the venue, went ahead with the speech and
\nthe full text was livestreamed on both Twitter and Facebook in realtime.
\nMillions of people listened to it from all over the world.<\/p>\n
It will also be posted on my twitter handle (@realFFK) and on my
\nFacebook page (Femi Fani-Kayode) later today.<\/p>\n
Given all that happened on this occasion I am constrained to ask, why is
\nBuhari so scared of his own shadow?<\/p>\n
By their actions the DSS not only violated the civil liberties and human
\nrights of my in-law, lawyer, friend and brother, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor,
\nbut they also proved that our Government is tyrannical, insidious,
\ncowardly, insensitive and intolerant of opposition and dissent. They
\njust wanted to ruin the whole occassion for no just cause.<\/p>\n
What is it that scared them so much about Ejiofor’s prescence? He is a
\ndistinguished, responsible, dedicated, loyal, diligent and hardworking
\nlawyer and proud son of Anambra a state and he was one of many that
\nwelcomed me to his state with so much enthusiasm, love and joy. Is that
\na crime? Is the DSS so petty? Do they have nothing better to do?<\/p>\n
Worse still their shameful and overzealous behaviour only made them
\nappear to be far more delusional, unreasonable, weak and paranoid than I
\nalready believed them to be.<\/p>\n
Thankfully their madness changed nothing because the show still went on,
\nI delivered my speech before a warm, friendly and receptive crowd of
\nresponsible people in a beautiful and opulent setting and it was a great
\nouting.<\/p>\n
Many businessmen, politicians, legislators and leaders of thought were
\nin attendance and the creme de la creme of Nnewi and Anambra were there.<\/p>\n
They included the Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly,
\nnumerous members of the State House of Assembly and a representative of
\nthe Governor of Anambra state.<\/p>\n
I thank Chief Innocent Chukwuma for hosting me in such a lavish manner
\nand I thank Anaedoonline for honoring me by not only asking me to
\ndeliver the keynote address but also for awarding me the prestigious
\n‘Peoples Choice Award’.<\/p>\n
Finally I thank my lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, for being so selfless,
\nfor displaying such magnaminity, maturity, restraint and patience and
\nfor being so gracious despite the atrocious way in which he was treated
\nby the DSS.<\/p>\n
He took it all in his stride and smiled all the way through just for my
\nsake and the sake of the organisers of the event.\u00a0 He is indeed my man
\nof the moment! Thanks for all.<\/p>\n
By: Femi Fani-Kayode As I was about to enter the hall to deliver my speech at the Anaedoonline 1st year Anniversary Lecture in Nnewi, Anambra state yesterday my lawyer and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n