As confirmed by experts, the mental illness that causes uncontrollable outburst of anger or toxic anger issues is called Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). This is an impulse-control disorder characterized by sudden surges of unwarranted anger, typified by such vices like hostility, impulsivity, and recurrent aggressive outbursts. Sufferers of IED needlessly “explode” into a rage easily despite a lack of apparent provocation. People with problems managing or regulating their anger, are often the last to know how toxic and damaging their anger can be to the people around them, thereby saddling other people around them with the burden of managing them in an effort to control their emotions for them.
It is important to know that anger is not a bad emotion, there may actually be plenty of times when an outburst of anger could be justified. Any emotion one has is simply a reflection of how one is thinking about certain situation. It is how anger gets expressed that creates difficulty in one’s dealings with others. Many people blow up because they aren’t good at articulating their feelings in the moment. While some allow small frustrations to build up until they can’t take it any longer, others respond on impulse to a little or no provocation at all such that it all end up coming out in one big explosion. One such person is the former aviation Minister, Femi Fani Kayode (FFK).
As indicated earlier, it is not uncommon to see cases of expressions of the emotion called anger from people around us. What is, however, both strange and uncommon is having a rather paradoxical situation whereby some persons that easily give in to outpour of uncontrollable anger happen to be same persons that also get their kicks from provoking others. That is exactly who FFK really is. A fitting illustration of a beheader that forbids seeing the sword raised close to his own neck. This gives a measure of credulity to the claim from some quarters that FFK is a chronic sufferer of some Behavioural and Attitudinal Disorder. Not only does FFK have an ugly track record of injuriously and provocatively trolling as well as verbally damaging targeted public figures, but he is also well known for being both a loudmouth braggart and a foul mouthed bigot that lashes out impulsively at people and explodes at the slightest provocation. Surprisingly, he has almost always been getting away with it.
In recent times, one public figure, amongst others, that have regularly been at the receiving end of the slanderous and demeaning campaigns and attacks of FFK is the person of VP Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. The enormity of his unbridled effrontery and obsession in dishing out provocative lies and insulting remarks about VP Osinbajo is such that is suggestive of the fact that his seeming derivation of pleasure and gratification from doing so is not unconnected with a major mental and psychological ailment.
On several occasions, FFK has publicly talked down the person of VP Osinbajo calling him demeaning names like “the short evil and wicked fake pastor”, ” evil beast”, “the evil one who pretends to be an angel”, “a political errand boy”, “a pernicious liar and a sanctimonious self-serving dwarf” among others. On one occasion, he even went as far as saying this much about VP Osinbajo and I quote: “As far as I am concerned Vice President Osinbajo is not just a deceitful, mendacious and poisonous dwarf but he is also a lying imp and devilish little midget who has been overwhelmed and possessed by a stunted, crude, cowardly and servile evil spirit”. On another occasion, he had this much insulting lies to spew on Twitter about the Vice President: “despite all his begging and lobbying, I have it on good authority that @ProfOsinbajo is on his way out. 3 names have been shortlisted as possible replacements. Yemi is as good as gone. He should just pray for a peaceful and scandal-free exit. That is the best he will get”. He also once championed a campaign for Osinbajo to ‘resign now’, having first connived with his co-liar Timi Frank on a concocted story of VP Osinbajo collecting 90 billion naira from FIRS, a devastating fake news that FIRS was quick to refute and all media outlets that either mischievously or erroneously published retracted and duly apologized for.
One can only be left wondering why, contrastingly, the beheader so much forbids seeing the blade raised to his own neck when one considers FFK’s stack resistance to little provocations. Not only is he well known for vehemently repelling criticisms, but also easily snapping and barking irritably at suspected critics and contrary opinions. Talking about a few recent occasions when FFK let loose his uncontrollable fury, during a live zoom meeting in May 2020, FFK insultingly told UK based journalist Femi Okutubo that he was “stupid”. About two months later, during a press conference in Zamfara State, he again lashed out openly at another journalist while bragging about his self- acclaimed relevance and importance.
The very height of his Narcissistic Personality Disorder symptoms, however, came to the fore on the 20th of August 2020 at a press conference in Calabar during his rather unsolicited and questionable “self-embarked” tour of the South. Mr Eyo Charles, a Daily Trust Newspaper journalist, like any discerning Nigerian would do, simply just asked who was bankrolling the tour, after he had finished bragging that Cross Rivers States was the sixth state he had visited in just ten days. One can only wonder how on earth such simple question could have so much ignited the anger of the extremely capricious braggart so much so that he utterly let loose his foulmouthed ire and bad temper in a manner reminiscent of practically letting the “genie out of the bottle”. He vehemently lambasted the poor journalist, dressing him down:
“What type of stupid question is that, what type of stupid question is that? Bankrolling who? Do you know who you are talking to? Bankrolling who? I will not take any questions from this man. What type of an insulting question is that? Which bankroll, to do what? Who can give me money for anything? Who do you think you are talking to? Bankroll what? Go and report yourself to your publisher. Bankroll what?”
He went further to rubbish the journalist calling him a man with a “small mind, very small mind”, while also officially declaring himself as being short-fused:
“Please don’t insult me here. I don’t want to take any questions from this man. I could see from your face before you got here how stupid you are. Don’t ever talk to me like that. Who do you think you are talking to? Bankroll who? You have a small mind, very small mind. Bankroll who? A former minister, a lawyer, don’t ever try that with me again. See me well, don’t ever. I have a short fuse. Don’t ever try that with me again, if you try me I will hit you hard and if anybody sent you and gave you brown envelope to ask that question, go and tell them that they got more than they bargained for”.
What is not new in these whole drama is the fact that such has always been FFK’s habitual temperamental weirdness, a suspected behavioral disorder that arguably informs his needless habitual antagonisms and critical criticisms of others. He typically bashes like wild animals when faced with criticisms that are not half as much as he freely dishes out to others. What is, however, interestingly new here is the manner he got thoroughly served this time around. Social Media users, who apparently must have already seen more than enough of this annoying Boaster and Blowhard, practically invaded him on social media and got him deservedly dissed. Below are just a few of the tweets in reaction to FFK’s howler:
Prof.Odaudu…Who is the tyrant now? FFK or PMB? See how journalists are apologising for actually doing their job? He may be angry because he might have likely paid their publishers for nonsense so he doesn’t expect a question contrary to their written script.
Oluwole Nwokun…What this video shows is what many of us already know. FFK is a fake human being, a hypocrite, a bigot, an opportunist, a fraud, an agent provocateur, propagandist, rude, sick, proud, arrogant, silly, fool, indecent, deceitful, fearful, uncivilized, aggressive, a bully & a cheat.
Adewunmi Collins...Dear ‘Mr short fuse’ I had decided not to join the trend of the nauseating “Mr short fuse” viral video that has generated a buzz in the media space but then I thought the question shouldn’t go unanswered. So, @realFFK Who is bankrolling you?
Ojokolax ….Everyone with any decorum for Human Rights should be appalled and ashamed of the former minister’s outburst. Coming so soon on the heels of his gaffe for urging coups to take place, It is clear that #Fani truly has a short fuse and probably some missing screws
Kemisola Adejunle .beats and abuses his wife and every woman he comes in contact with. The incester, molester,wife beater and monster cant take a pinch of the insults he doles out and he is even too arrogant to apologize. That’s who Mr. Short fuse is.
NkemXfactor.. Can somebody tell this BIG MOUTH to SHUT THE HELL UP? Who does MR SHORT-FUSED think he really is? Isn’t this the same @realFFK that gets his kicks from trolling and sullying targeted innocent figures, including @ProfOsinbajo, and gets away with it without being bashed? Absurd!
Ola Bankole…See Femi Fani Kayode o! “Agbaya”!! You can give it out but you can’t take it abi? This man has said the most vile and unimaginable things about President Buhari and VP Osinbajo, yet a journalist asks him a simple question, he is flaring up like a pregnant woman! Nonsense!
Yahaya Wada….Watching this video, I realized more than ever before that President Muhammadu Buhari and his team have shown high level of liberalism. Just watch Fanikayode here, what a dictatorial inclination. Imagine if he were to be President? And this is the same man that has libelously.
Expectedly, The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigerian Press Council (NPC), Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and other prominent personalities also expressed outright disgust over the former minister’s verbal attack on Mr Charles. The Nigeria Union of Journalists particularly are unequivocal in their contempt of the gangster-like outburst by Femi Fani- Kayode against this Cross River State Correspondent of the Daily Trust Newspaper, Eyo Charles who asked him a simple question, which he felt was embarrassing. Apology to the journalist was demanded of him which he characteristically objected to with deviance. Fani-Kayode(@realFFK) rather took to Twitter to defend his action against the reporter claiming that the journalist made an assertion against him, “instead of asking a question”. He claimed the reporter said to him, “Well, we do not know who is bankrolling you”. The former Minister said that was not a question but an assertion and an insult. His words:
“If this insulting assertion were (was) made before (Donald) Trump or OBJ (Olusegun Obasanjo), I know how they would have reacted,” he said. “I have no apology to offer for it.”
We have again a couple of talking points here. If the Journalist had couched his remark in the form of a question, would FFK have answered without exploding like a “Ginie outside the bottle”? Besides, is FFK’s status and prominence such that can really be said to be in parity with the likes of Donald Trump and Olusegun Obasanjo? The truth of the matter is that Femi Fani Kayode’s deviant arrogance and pompousness (howbeit empty) is of epic proportion.
Somehow along the line, though, FFK did manage to issue what can best be described as a scrappy apology, albeit not before he stated clearly that he was first appeased by his mentors before he did. Besides, he never actually apologized to the Journalist, as he must have felt too big to do so. What he did was only apologized for using abusive words publicly. In a Twitter post on Wednesday 26th August 2020, he said: “I met with my advisors and I wish to say the following. I hereby withdraw the word ‘stupid’ which I used in my encounter with a journalist in Calabar. I have many friends in the media who I offended by losing my cool and using such words. I hereby express my regrets for doing so.”
Again, Nigerians were quick to spot the incurable arrogance that ran through his so called apology, as evidenced by its total lack of a scrap of remorse for hurting a fellow human. A Twitter account going by the name Bisuclef stated point blank that the said apology is just another typical FFK’s sham:
“Femi Fani-Kayode DID not apologise to Eyo Charles of @dailytrust. He never did. He only apologised for using the word stupid. This is a gentle reminder of who FFK really is”.
Femi Fani Kayode (FFK) is an obnoxious braggart and bigot that get his kicks from libeling, slandering, bragging and bullying, but furiously and abominably detests “getting served” in return. A reprobate and unscrupulous element with toxic anger occasioned by a suspected emotional and behavioural disorder. Not a pinch of his words and stories are ever supposed to be taken seriously. His is a fitting picture of the cruel beheader that forbids the blade (sword) raised to his own neck.
Ayodeji Yomi is a social commentator and a social investment intervention initiatives analyst.
