Nigerian politician, writer, poet and lawyer David Oluwafemi Adewunmi Abdulateef Fani-Kayode who was the Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006. He belongs to the Peoples Democratic Party although he was with the opposition’s All Progressive Congress (APC) until June 2014 when he returned to the Peoples Democratic Party.
He was born in Lagos on October 16, 1960 to Chief Victor Babaremilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode and to Chief (Mrs) Adia Adunni Fani-Kayode in Osun State. His father was was Leader of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons Opposition in the Western House of Assembly from 1960 to 1963, the Hon. Minister of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Deputy Premier of the Western Region of Nigeria from 1963 until 1966 and he successfully moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence in 1958 in the Nigerian Parliament.
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He started his education at Brighton College, Brighton in the UK after which he went to Holmewood House School in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, South-East England. He entered Harrow School in Harrow on the Hill, United Kingdom and later into Kelly College in Tavistock, UK, where he completed the rest of his public school education. In 1980 Femi Fani-Kayode went to the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies where he graduated with an LL.B law degree in 1983. He also attended Cambridge University (Pembroke College) after which he went to the Nigerian Law School and in 1985 was called to the Nigerian Bar. Femi also studied theology at the Christian Action Faith Bible Seminary in Accra, Ghana, gaining a diploma in theology in 1995.
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Femi Fani-Kayode was a member of the Nigerian National Congress (NNC) in 1989. He was elected the national youth leader of NNC that same year. In 1990, he was appointed as Chief Press Secretary to Chief Tom Ikimi, the first national chairman of the National Republican Convention (NRC) and in 1991 as Special Assistant to Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, former head of the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO).
In 1996, he left Nigeria as a result of disturbed actions by Gen Sani Abacha and joined the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) abroad where, together with the likes of Chief Tunde Edu and others who played a very active role in the fight against Abacha. He returned to Nigeria in 2001 and met President Olusegun Obasanjo who appointed him member of his presidential campaign team for the 2003 presidential election.
Femi was appointed the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 22 June to 7 November 2006 and as the Minister of Aviation from 7 November 2006 to 29 May 2007.
That same year, after a minor cabinet reshuffle, he was redeployed to the Aviation Ministry as the Honourable Minister of Aviation. Since the end of the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration on 29 May 2007, Femi Fani-Kayode has gone back to the private sector and to his legal practice.
He was arrested on December 2008 by the EFCC and charged with 47 counts of money laundering.
On July 1, 2009, he was discharged and acquitted by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on the two count charge of money laundering preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Femi Fani-Kayode has been married three times. His first marriage was to Saratu “Baby” Atta in 1987 but they were divorced by 1990. They have one daughter whose name is Oluwafolake. The second marriage was to Yemisi Olasunbo Adeniji in 1991 but they were divorced by 1995. They have three daughters whose names are Oluwatemitope, Oluwatobiloba and Oluwatuminu. The third marriage was to Regina-Hanson Amonoo. They were married in 1997 They have one daughter whose name is Oluwaremilekun. Femi-Fani Kayode is married to Precious Chikwendu Fani-Kayode. On 1 February 2016 Fani-Kayode and his wife, delivered a baby-boy, their first child whose name is Joshua Oluwafemi Emmanuel Lotanna Aragorn Fani-Kayode.
He has written various essays and poems describing the political state of Nigerian leaders and the economy.
