Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has said that his security men did not threaten Daily Trust journalist, Eyo Charles in Calabar, Cross River after a news conference.
Fani-Kayode who was attempting to defend himself following a backlash from Nigerians from all walks of life after he verbally assaulted the journalist, noted that, he only reprimanded the reporter.
“During my tour of the South and after a long and successful press conference in Calabar, Cross River state, a journalist put up his hand for the last question and said, “Well we do not know who is bankrolling you,” he claimed although the reporter has claimed he asked Who is bankrolling your tour?.
Femi Fani-Kayode @realFFK threatens @daily_trust journalist in #Calabar, Cross River, says “I have a short fuse”
VIDEO: Africa TV pic.twitter.com/7t7XN6DjVe
— Chronicle NG (@chronicle_ng) August 25, 2020
Fani-Kayode’s defence
On his Twitter handle he wrote, “Permit me to add the following. I have taken note of the report by Daily Trust on the incident. The content is false. I didn’t send any of my security men to threaten their reporter. I only reprimanded him for a premeditated plan to embarrass me and he apologised thereafter. That was all.
“This is not a battle between me and the esteemed Nigerian journalists who respect the ethics of the noble profession. I have always been and will always be a friend to journalists and a champion of freedom of speech.
“What I will not accept are brazen insults from an individual in the name of journalism. The assertion or assumption that I am being bankrolled by anyone is deeply insulting.
He then addressed the professional body for journalists. “Finally to the Nigerian Union of Journalists, I say you have got me completely wrong. It would have been better if you had heard my own side of the story.
