Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, have renewed their years-long hostility just days after they appeared to have settled their differences and given peace a chance.
The collapse of their relationship surfaced in a blistering “thank-you” message Mr Fayose sent to Mr Obasanjo for attending his 65th birthday celebration.
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But far from being complimentary, the message launched an attack on Mr Obasanjo, describing him as someone that should be kept away in the zoo.
The confrontation marks a new chapter in the long-running frosty relationship between the two men, dating back to Mr Fayose’s 2006 removal as Ekiti State governor. Until their recent seeming reconciliation, Mr Fayose took every opportunity to publicly lambast the former president.
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In a statement released Monday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Kehinde Akinyemi, Special Assistant on Media to Mr Obasanjo, said the former president received an SMS from Mr Fayose which he described as a “thank-you letter.”
The tone of the message, however, was far from appreciative. The statement captured both Mr Fayose’s text message and Mr Obasanjo’s reply. The messages made public by Mr Obasanjo’s camp were believed to be meant to be private messages between the two warring politicians.
In the text, Mr Fayose thanked Mr Obasanjo for attending his birthday event but accused him of making “very irresponsible comments” during the gathering.
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“Dear Baba Obasanjo, I trust this meets you well. Your coming to my birthday party, I appreciate except for your very irresponsible comments at your age. You went so low but I am not surprised because someone once said you are supposed to be kept away in the zoo. Sincerely that’s where you belong.” he wrote.
The former governor escalated the insults, calling Mr Obasanjo “a mad man” and claiming the ex-president was in a “heightened stage of dementia”:
“I kept quiet or did not reply you at the function so that the world will know the difference between a sane and a mad man that you are. It is also obvious that you have also lost your sanity OR should I say is the heightened stage of dementia. Not to worry Baba., I shall set the records straight in due course of time,” he said
He further demanded that Mr Obasanjo return money he gave him to cover his flight from Rwanda to attend his birthday celebration held on Saturday.
“Lastly I shall appreciate if you return my money since you publicly admitted you received but Dangote brought u back,” he added.
Responding through his media aide, Mr Obasanjo thanked Mr Fayose for the message, saying it “undisguisedly revealed who and what you are, unchanged and unchangeable.”
On the money, Mr Obasanjo said it had been returned.
““Your money has been sent back through Foluso Adeagbo who brought it and in the same bag as he brought it unopened by me,” he wrote.
Multiple calls to Mr Fayose on Monday evening were not answered.
What Obasanjo said at the birthday event
Mr Obasanjo’s appearance at the birthday celebration and the remarks he made there formed the backdrop to Mr Fayose’s furious SMS.
At the event, the former president mixed praise with sharp rebuke.
“You are not the best of my political children, you are not… But you have made achievements that must not be ignored,” he said.
He added that the invitation to the event was not extended directly by Mr Fayose but through former aviation minister Osita Chidoka.
“When Osita came to me and said, ‘Ayo,’ I asked, ‘Ayo who?’ He said Ayo Fayose. I told him to tell him, the message has been delivered,” Mr Obasanjo said.
The former president also revealed that some associates had warned him not to attend because of Mr Fayose’s past insults.
He said, “Before I started coming here, some people called me… ‘Can’t you remember that he abused you?’ I said, ‘Thank you for reminding me.’”
Despite the rocky relationship, Mr Obasanjo said Mr Fayose had apologised to him in the past on more than one occasion.
He recalled what was suspected to be a foul play when he visited Ekiti State as president on invitation by then-Governor Fayose to inaugurate a poultry project.
“And I turned to you and said Ayo, ‘your chicks don’t poo?’ And I heard your brother, Oyinlola, saying to you quietly that ‘If he doesn’t know anything , he knows poultry.’”
Sowore reacts
Human rights activist and Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore mocked the two politicians in an X post, titled “Obasanjo versus Fayose: when two deputy devils jam each other.”
“The way Fayose insulted Obasanjo telling him he ‘belongs to the zoo’ after Obasanjo made those unpleasant remarks at his birthday was something else entirely,” he wrote.
Despite the obvious mockery, it is considered deeply improper for a younger person to speak harshly or insult an elder, regardless of disagreements in the Yoruba culture..
READ ALSO: UPDATED: Obasanjo speaks on frosty relationship with ex-governor Ayo Fayose
This is why the Fayose–Obasanjo exchange has stirred concern, as many see any perceived disrespect toward an elder statesman like Mr Obasanjo as running against long-standing norms of respect and restraint.
The former president’s critics have also condemned his decision to chose Mr Fayose’s birthday platform to express uncomplimentary remarks about him.
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