Femi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria’s former minister of Aviation and spokesman for then campaign organisation for the re-election of former President Goodluck Jonathan has said that he cannot be threatened by Ali Modu Sheriff, stating that he is prepared for a legal battle with new National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Sheriff, who replaced Adamu Mu’azu, has not had it smooth since he emerged as the chairman of the embattled party some days ago.
Upon his appointment, he met stiff resistance from some members including Fani-Kayode, who insinuated that Sheriff may have founded Boko Haram, the insurgent group responsible for thousands of deaths in North-eastern part of Nigeria and currently spreading to Cameroon.
Sheriff, who has since been fighting to absolve himself of blame concerning Boko Haram, was reported to have threatened to sue.
But Fani-Kayode has said he stands by his allegations against Sheriff and is ready to slug it out with the former Borno governor in court.
In fact, Fani-Kayode says he has consulted his lawyers in readiness for the suit.
“We read the newspaper advert in Thisday newspaper in which Ali Modu Sheriff has threatened to sue Chief Femi Fani-Kayode.
“Though we have not received a formal letter from his lawyers to that effect we wish to inform him and members of the public that we stand by everything that we have said about Sheriff, we have briefed our lawyers, we welcome the suit and we shall gladly meet him in court.
“The days of silencing people with arrogant threats and frivolous litigation are long over. We cannot be silenced by Modu Sheriff’s threat to sue and we are not losing any sleep over it.
“Such a course of action will prove not only to be counter-productive for him but by the time it is all over he will get the shocker of his life,” a statement by Fani-Kayode’s spokesman, Mr. Jude Ndukwe, said late Sunday.
Meanwhile, former Minister of Transport and member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Ebenezer Babatope has cautioned against threats by Sheriff targeted at Femi Fani-Kayode. In an interview with Punch newspapers, he said “I don’t know much about that but if it is true that Sheriff threatened Fani-Kayode, I want to advise him not to do so because in democracy you must respect the opinions of others – you must! You cannot shut them up. Fani-Kayode is a young man that is well loved by many people in the PDP. If he said he wanted to get back at Fani-Kayode, he must be careful. I have not read much about it, so I can’t judge him. But if he has such in mind, he should withdraw it and face the work he is doing as chairman of the party.”
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