Dear Baba Kadiri,
Last night I could imagine no greater contrast to this anti-Climax, after the Sabbath, sitting in the seventh row, to see a highly decadent, burlesque, sexualised Swedish Folk Opera version of the anti-capitalist The Threepenny Opera. With people like Hubert Ogunde and Fela and Ola Rotimi and Mallam Aminu Kano in mind, I'm dreaming of a Nigerian theatre production of "The Threepenny Opera" under the direction of one no less than Wole Soyinka and in that version, you can conveniently situate your brother and good friend, the wanton Kayode and his ilk….
I am presuming that I have understood you correctly and that the words you attribute as Fani-Kayode verbatim are reliable.
Olayinka Agbetuyi says that Santeria "was a syncretist survival strategy of the Brazilian and Cuban Yoruba." This was survival in a culturally hostile environment. Today, the rest of the Yoruba diaspora only has to maintain a connection, touch base with Yoruba wherever they are. And if those in the motherland not only deny but also vilify their heritage, an appropriate response is to not take it lying down…
Some say "Variety", after more than half a century in Europe, I say "diversity" is the spice of life. So, if someone says that he is a kangaroo, or quite literally or poetically or philosophically, or theologically or plain physical and biologically that God is his dad and he just arrived from heaven or from Mars or some other planet in this solar system we should let him say so without arguing with him or imputing some psychic maladjustment or incurable mental aberration. Isn't "live and let live" your motto?
Attack being a good form of defence, some arguments are best started with a nice string of ad hominems as the opportunistic David Oluwafemi Adewunmi Abdulateef Fani-Kayode has done. He does strike me as being frequently opportunistic, depending on which way the wind is blowing. The fact is, once Yoruba, always Yoruba. There's nothing that you can do if you are born into it. He is probably thinking or praying that his circumstances ( the corruption charges he is facing in court) will be slightly ameliorated and that he may even stop dangling like a worm on the hook if he denies his paternity or denies that he is Yoruba - maybe rightly so, since a an Honourable Yoruba man cannot stoop so low. I am curious as to what Hon. Mobolaji E. Aluko would have to say about the turn-coat for some final guidance on this matter.
Since circa, 2007 I have also been following Femi Fani-Kayode's meandering, sometimes in utter disbelief, his spectacular twists and turns, his blowing hot and cold, spontaneously, yet to master the art of the double-speak, occasionally, like Roland Kirk, blowing from both sides of his mouth simultaneously, but not as melodiously.
Since you are conversant with the term "self-hating Jew" and when it comes to mankind perhaps the Yoruba are no exception, so, I believe that you'll agree with me that "Self-hating Yoruba" can be safely coined and applied to whom the cap fits and in that regard, Mister Femi Kayode may proudly or ignominiously wear it, even if he denies being one. As long as it's not a case of the kettle calling the pot black, on our side, a good attitude would be one of," So he doesn't want to be one of us? Good riddance!" – or - as the good Creole people dem say, "bad bush no dey for throw away bad pikin", so out of compassion you ( the wise guys – wise like Akintola Wyse ) could re-educate him, and induct him back into the fold, with a new sense of belonging, induce hi to return like the prodigal son
It/ he reminds me of the thirds verse of our school song:
"As on her walls we read the names renowned in former days,
With beating hearts, we vow to match their daring and their praise;
For who would care through time to drift with dull and drowsy face,
Unworthy of his faith and name, his father and his race."?
Who knows? The opportunistic self-loathing probably has the disintegration of Nigeria and certainly the disparagement and fragmentation of what is for others, a cohesive and substantive Yoruba identity - for all we know genuflecting to some imaginary foreign power that would like to herald the dismemberment of Nigeria by first undermining the country's name – maybe would like to change it to something else , something more acceptable to his " First White hairs." This is all speculation of course.
For now, we can only speculate that according to his "theory of everything" - his "string theory" every name has to have a meaning; I suppose that's how the non-existent came into existence (man gave names to all the animals" etc). AS to the birth and naming of Nigeria, Michael Crowder's "The Story of Nigeria" is quite clear. Maybe, he has read that story and still disagrees with what Mr Crowder says about Nigeria and more especially what he says about the Yoruba and Yorubaland.
Still, in denial, I should request that he read the second to last chapter of Norman O Brown's seminal "Love's Body", the chapter entitled "Freedom" (pp. 243-255) from which I'll just quote these two excerpts:
"Meaning is not in things but in between; in the iridescence, the interplay; in the interconnections; at the intersections, at the crossroads. Meaning is transitional as it is transitory; in the puns or bridges, the correspondence."
This message from Professor Stephen Akintoye is particularly addressed to guys like Kayode and those of his ilk:
"Ultimately, what is important about a nation is not its name but its record of contributions to human civilization. On such a basis, the Yoruba nation has a very great deal to be proud of, and the name Yoruba deserves to ring out proudly on the earth. My message to every Yoruba person: Your nation's Yoruba name is a great and noble name in the world; bear it proudly everywhere, and, by your conduct, always strive to enhance its greatness and nobility."
On Sunday, 27 October 2019 01:21:38 UTC+2, ogunlakaiye wrote:
A recent publication by Femi Fani-Kayode was titled, "WE ARE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF ODUDUWA, NOT YORUBAS." Had he not been a rascal, he should have spoken for himself that he, Femi Fani-Kayode, is not a Yoruba. Instead, he demonstrated his intellectual hooliganism by embracing all Yoruba speaking people in his public denunciation and renunciation of his Yoruba identity. He claimed that the Fulani gave demeaning and insulting names to Southerners : Nyamiri (meaning fetcher of water) to the people of the Southeast and Yariba to the people of Southwest. According to Femi Fani-Kayode, Yoruba derives from *Yariba* which means usurper, deceitful, shady, treacherous, cheating usurer and double-dealing bastard. Femi Fani-Kayode stated further, "The British named our nation, 'Nigeria' meaning 'area of darkness' and the Fulani named our ethnic Nationality *Yaruba.* Together this means a group of deceitful, shady, treacherous usurpers and bastards from an area of darkness." Since I read this on 21 October 2019, I have tried to enquire from Fulani people who speak Fulfulde if the word *YARIBA* belongs to Fulfulde and if that single word contains all the meanings attributed to it by Femi Fani-Kayode with no confirmation from any source. Curiously, Femi Fani-Kayode says the name, Nigeria, is equally demeaning to him as Yoruba, but he has not denounced or renounced his national identity as Nigerian.
In the online Nigerian Vanguard of 25 May 2013, Femi Fani-Kayode cast aspersion on the word Yoruba thus, "Yet, the fact of the matter is that the word 'Yoruba' has NO meaning in our language that is known to man. No-one has been able to tell us with certainty the meaning of the word *Yoruba* or indeed where it really came from. This really is very strange and is indeed a deep and unsettling mystery. FOR ALL WE KNOW; IT COULD EVEN BE A DEEP AND ANCIENT INSULT. That is why I have always preferred to be referred to as an 'Ife' rather than a ' Yoruba.'' That was over six years ago. Now in 2019, Femi Fani-Kayode has not told us the source of his information as to why he is so cocksure about the origin of the word *Yoruba* and its multiple of derogative meanings. As the Yoruba saying goes, if a person calls his clothe a rag, people will scrub the floor with it. Following Femi's article in the online Nigerian Vanguard of 25 May 2013 and in which he denounced the name Yoruba, one Ambrose Osawe appeared on 15 June 2013, in the online vanguard with an article titled, "Benin, Kingdom of Sky-Kings. Mr. Osawe stated specifically, "YORUBA is not originally a Yoruba word. It is a corruption of Iyoya rruoba (I have gone to pay homage to the Oba). It is a Bini word corrupted into Yoruba...." No, Femi Fani-Kayode is not a Yoruba because no true Yoruba will be standing trial in court for laundering eight-hundred million naira (N800 million). In 2015, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode was the chief propagandist for President Goodluck Jonathan's re-election campaign for which he obtained over a billion naira from Sambo Dasuki, Jonathan's security adviser. According to EFCC, Femi Fani-Kayode used his girl friend Miss Precious Chikwendu as a front to open two fake bank accounts at Diamond Bank and another 15 bank accounts at Guaranty Trust Bank to launder N800 million out of the campaign funds. It is out of the ongoing money laundering prosecution of Femi Fani-Kayode for N800 million that he has become so sensitive to the words usurper, deceitful, shady, treacherous, cheating usurer and double-dealing bastard, characters that have no connection with either YARIBA or YORUBA.S. Kadiri
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