President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed why he forgive and accepted his critic, Femi Fani-Kayode into All progressive party (APC) despite many unprintable things he had said against him before his defection.
Buhari noted that FFK said many things that seem unpardonable against but he has overlooked the past and has forgiven him.
He disclosed this in a statement issued by his media aide, Femi Adesina and made available to Journalists on Thursday evening.
In the statement titled ‘BUHARI, FFK, AND THE QUALITY OF MERCY’ President Buhari urged members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to fully accept the ex-Aviation Minister as one of them
DAILY GIST reports that Fani-Kayode dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling APC last Thursday and was presented by the APC National Caretaker Chairman, Mai Mala Buni to the President at the Aso Rock Villa.
The development however attracted lots of reactions and backlash from stakeholders who recalled how Fani-Kayode has vowed never to return to the APC.
Members of the APC also condemned the ‘red carpet welcome’ that was given to Fani-Kayode by the President and other party leaders.
But speaking in a statement on Thursday, Adesina stated that Fani-Kayode also verbally attacked him but all that has been put in the past.
He said, “FFK is by no means a miscellaneous personality, and whatever he does, or does not do, attracts loads of attention.
“He was a founding member of the APC, before he ported back to the PDP. And he did not leave quietly. He ruffled feathers and stirred up the mud. He became a rabid hater of his former party and its members.
“Between last week and now, vitriol poured by FFK on anybody with the slightest affinity to APC has been dug up serially. He has said things straight from the gutters, things that the natural man would call unforgivable and unpardonable.
Against President Buhari, the first family, Yusuf Buhari whom he wished had died when the latter had an almost fatal bike accident, APC as a party, the government, leaders of the party, groups and individuals. Even this writer has suffered horrid descriptions from FFK in many write-ups.
“Yes, he even said he would rather die than return to APC, but last week, he returned—well and alive.
“Naturally, a lot of loyal APC members are hopping mad that FFK was readmitted into the party. And not only that, he got back at the highest level. Not at his ward in Ile-Ife, Osun State, but the triumphal entry was at the Presidential Villa, with President Buhari himself as the host.
“I understand the umbrage taken against the development by teeming APC supporters. It’s the natural thing to do. But then, having vented spleen, raised dust and almost brought down the roof, the next thing is to isolate the issues dispassionately. With the bile displayed towards President Buhari and his family over the years, how did the man find the grace to have received FFK? How was he convinced? Who did the convincing? What were the extenuating factors? How? When? Why?”
Adesina further used the opportunity to submit that many who believe President Buhari is unforgiving and vengeful now see that is not the case with how Buhari has totally forgiven and warmly received Fani-Kayode.
He said Fani-Kayode has obtained mercy from Buhari.
He wrote: “That was what Buhari did to FFK. He showed him mercy, dropping like gentle rain from heaven, when he could have otherwise spat into the sky, collecting the spittle with his own face. Was that not what me and you would have done? Confess. We would have told FFK to go to hell, and stay there. But Buhari didn’t. He displayed an attribute of God: forgiveness.
“One of the lies that had been serially told against the President was his alleged unforgiving spirit, a falsehood sold to Nigerians by anti-Buhari forces since the days of military rule. The lie traveled for so long, till it was eventually overtaken by the truth in one day. Nigerians saw through the facade, and elected Buhari as President in 2015. Re-elected him with wider margin in 2019.
“I have worked with the President for over six years. And I have seen amazing things in terms of accommodation and capacity to forgive. I have visited him at home many times in the evenings, only to find at dinner table with him people who had been abusing his forefathers on television earlier in the day.
This President has a capacity to forgive, and forget. And make peace. That was what he displayed in the case of FFK. Nothing short of divine attribute, which me and you should covet and seek to approximate.”
Adesina added that though Fani-Kayode many times in the past has attacked him too, now that he has swallowed his vomit, everyone who has been hit or hurt in one way or the other should forgive him and accept him as a brother and friend.
