Barely two days after former President Olusegun Obasanjo attended Ayodele Fayose’s 65th birthday celebration and publicly declared their long standing feud resolved, the former Ekiti governor has fired off a harsh “thank you” message that has reopened the rift in spectacular fashion.
Both men met in Lagos on Saturday in what appeared to be a carefully brokered reconciliation. Obasanjo, while speaking at the event, recounted the behind the scenes efforts that led to the meeting, saying Fayose sent emissaries to appeal to him. He mentioned former Aviation Minister Osita Chidoka as one of those who approached him on Fayose’s behalf.
“You are not the best of my political children, but you have made achievements that must not be ignored,” Obasanjo told the audience. He recalled how Fayose could not initially reach out directly. “Even to get me to come here, you could not approach me directly. You sent Osita to sound me out. When Osita came, I said, ‘If he has sent you and you have delivered the message, then tell him you have delivered it.’”
Obasanjo said Fayose later phoned him, attempting to continue the reconciliation. “You phoned me and said ‘Ayo’, and I asked, ‘Ayo who?’ You said ‘Ayo Fayose’. I told you that you can see me anytime.”
He revealed that Fayose still approached cautiously, sending Foluso Adeagbo ahead before visiting him in Abeokuta. The former president even recounted chastising Fayose and his wife during the process. “I told your wife, ‘Madam, you and your husband, you are not Omoluabi.’ She admitted and said, ‘Baba, you are right. Please, forgive us.’”
Obasanjo said he forgave the former governor and urged him to extend reconciliation to others he had offended while also learning the right lessons. Throughout the former president’s remarks, Fayose stayed calm and said nothing publicly.
However, that calm did not last.
On Monday evening, Obasanjo’s media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, released a message that Fayose sent privately to Obasanjo after the event. The message shocked observers for its sharp language.
Fayose accused Obasanjo of making “very irresponsible comments” during the birthday event and repeated a past insult that the former president “belongs in the zoo.” He wrote: “I appreciate your coming 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 is where you belong.”
He claimed he kept silent at the event only to create a contrast between “a sane and a mad man,” accused Obasanjo of losing his sanity, referenced dementia, and demanded a refund of money he said the former president admitted receiving.
Obasanjo issued a short, calculated reply. “Ayo, thanks for your ‘Thank You’ message which undisguisedly revealed who and what you are, unchanged and unchangeable. Your money has been sent back through Foluso Adeagbo who brought it and in the same bag as he brought it unopened by me.”
The exchange has shocked many who believed Saturday’s event marked a clean slate between the two men. Instead, the reconciliation lasted less than forty eight hours, leaving the political space buzzing with renewed tension and unanswered questions about what triggered Fayose’s sudden outburst.
