As Minister, I Filled Vacancies In My Ministries With More Yorubas - Femi Fani Kayode

Chief Femi Fani Kayode on Tuesday the 17th of September confirmed the allegation that he filled almost all the vacancies that came up under the ministries of Aviation as well as Culture and Tourism with his ethnic Yoruba indigenes (mainly those from Osun state) during his time as minister in charge of those ministries.

Responding to his friend Gbenga Ilesanmi on Facebook who made the following comment;

Gbenga Emmanuel Ilesanmi "Hello Comrades.Chief Fani Kayode should have proposed our balkanization to Chief Obasanjo when He was a Federal Minister.By the way how many Ile-Ife Indigent Students did you granted Scholarship or Work to show that you trully loved yr home Region?"

Femi had this to say;

Femi Fani-Kayode @Gbenga, perhaps if you had been following my works and reading my articles for the last 23 years you would appreciate the fact that I have been advocating some of these things for a very long time. If you can gain access to President Obasanjo, which I doubt, go and ask him how hard I fought for the convening of a Sovereign National Conference when he was in power, before he came to power during the NADECO years and after he left power in 2007. If you had done your research before making your absurd assertion you would have known all this. Instead you were just being lazy and said the first thing that came to your mind. On the question of ile-ife I have sent many ife indigenees to school and paid their fees over the years, including quite a few that I sent abroad. I dont make too much noise about that sort of thing because I do them unto God and not for any vulgar political gain. More importantly I gave more sons and daughters of Ife and indeed Osun state indigenees more jobs in the various parastatals of Aviation and Culture and Tourism when I was Minister in both than ANY other Minister in the history of our country. If you doubt that go and ask the people and the families from Osun that benefitted or the Ooni of Ife himself and the local and political leaders of that ancient community who were all fully aware. I gave those young men amd women those senior managerial jobs only because they were encouraged to apply for them and they were well qualified for them and I have no regrets about doing so. As a matter of fact I was very proud of doing so because some of them had not worked for years or since they left university. I made so many efforts for those from my ''home region'' that in 2008 the Senator Anyim Ude-led Senate Aviation Commitee on Aviation wanted to ban me from public office for 5 years simply because I put ''too many yoruba people in the aviation parastatals''. Have you ever heard of anything as absurd as that? Go and check their recommendations which of course were thrown out by the Senate in plenary. The question I would now put to you is what have you done for the people of ''your region'' or wherever you come from? I doubt that you have done anything other than criticise your leaders on fb. It would be better if people like you did their research before casting aspertions and making childish allegations. There is far more to me than writing essays or commenting on fb or twitter. I doubt that I can say the same for you because I dont know you from Adam and I have never heard of you. People like you are the reason why most public figures refuse to interact with members of the public on social media. Yet, despite your crass and absurd suppositions, you cannot deter people like me from continuing to interact with others here. This is because those that appreciate these contributions and this interaction are far more than those like you that don't. I really do wonder why people like you come to my wall or why you are on my friends list. I have over 3000 people waiting to join this page but I have no space for them. Do me a favour and remove yourself so that I can give your place to another that will appreciate it far more. I am looking for people that are ready to debate and exchange ideas in a positive and constructive way and not cynical and frustrated accussers and finger pointers. Thanks.