Former Aviation Minister, and Director, New Media of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council, Femi Fani-Kayode, on Sunday, reacted swiftly to the interview granted a radio station by the Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, in which he slammed the politician for allegedly making inciting comments that could put Nigeria’s democracy in jeopardy.
The envoy, in the interview, also revealed that 10 persons had been placed under visa ban for similarly making statements capable of derailing democracy in the country.
But Fani-Kayode quickly fired back saying nobody can intimidate him with a “veiled threat of a visa ban”.
He made his rejoinder via a tweet on his Twitter page on Sunday, saying he would not take any lesson on “what to say or how to speak” from the UK envoy.
Fani-Kayode said he was “not one of those Nigerians that bows, shakes, shivers and trembles before the British or indeed any other foreigner”.
“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,” Fani-Kayode wrote.
“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.
“Neither will we accept lessons in decency, etiquette, what to say, or how to speak from a British civil servant. I advise this 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.”
