Alex Enemanna
Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has admitted to have criticised President Muhammadu Buhari in the past where he accused the Nigerian leader of ethnicity, corruption and poor leadership, saying those criticisms were based on his wrong perception of the President.
Fani-Kayode, a spokesman of PDP presidential campaign in 2019 was on Thursday received into the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa Abuja along with other top members of the ruling party.
Featuring on Channels TV political programme, Politics Today, the former Minister emphasised that his past criticisms against the President were informed by a wrong perception he held, maintaining that he understands the President better now than in the past.
While stating that his criticism will not amount to any positive change without a platform of power, Fani-Kayode said he has discovered he can work with and collaborate with many people in the ruling APC, noting that building the bridge of peace and unity is needed to pull the country from what he called brinks.
The former Presidential aide revealed that moving closer to the President availed him the opportunity to discover a lot of things about the President that he never knew in the past.
While observing that there is a lot of things going on behind the scene, he insisted that it is better to work from within to effect the necessary change than throwing stones from outside.
“I have ample evidence of the fact that because of his (President) contributions and his receptive ears, a man I believed will not listen to anyone else in the past and I was quite wrong on that. His receptive ear, those around him, including some of the governors, we have worked closely and I have seen definitely this is a man that we can work with” he said.
He added, “I was kicking about him from outside, I have got to know him from inside now. I have been working in the last few months with people that are very close to him. They would not have done that if not that he (President) allowed them to do so.
“We have got to know one another and it is now absolutely clear to me that there is a perception that we had in the past, or many people still have that is clearly wrong.
“We can work together, we can come together, we can build bridges, we can effect unity in this country.
“In the past, we said elements in the North have refused to fight terrorism. We went as far as saying that elements in the North were supporting the terrorists, that they were killing our people and their own people.
“You can see what is happening today in the North. You have a form of vigorous fight against insurgency, from the northern governors and anywhere else in the country and that is worth commending. They would not have done that without the backing of the President. Hundreds of terrorists and bandits are being slaughtered in the core North today as a consequence of that policy and that is just one example” he said.
Fani-Kayode while underlining that there is a time to criticise and a time to work together said he has not changed in his core principles.
The erstwhile critic of the President was quoted to have in a tweet said he would rather die than joining the ruling APC.
Responding to the tweet, Femi Fani-Kayode went spiritual, declaring that will not die but live and prosper.
He is expected to officially pick his membership card from the FCT chapter of the party in coming days.
