There are some things you expect from children. There are some things you tolerate from touts. And then there are things that should never come from men who carry the weight of elderhood on their shoulders. Yet here we are: Ambassador FFK in a naked and public mud-slinging ritual with Aare Dele Momodu.
These are two supposed elders. Two men of influence who arrived on the prominence centre stage from different routes. One came by way of the legendary name and record of his long-dead father, though he himself is yet to do anything historic other than a forgettable stint as Minister of Aviation under OBJ and serving as the leading praise-singer for an incumbent president who lost a national election to a “barely educated retired military general.
The other pugilist came into national prominence allegedly from abject poverty to defy the odds and change his family name from obscurity to national recognition. His father may not have been known by anybody, as FFK counter-punched, but he made sure his own name will never be forgotten.
The Battle of Pedigrees
FFK is your classic Ikoyi born-and-bred warrior joining issues with a classic Fadeyi born-and-bred Dele Momodu. Both are arguing about their pedigrees on a syndicated national social media show of the absurd. Two individuals who have tasted power, or proximity to power, and enjoyed the privileges of intellect—reduced to trading insults like agberos fighting over bus change at Oshodi.
The sad part is that this roforofo fight is not even over ideas. It’s not over policies. It is not over the future of Nigeria. It is simply a “much ado about nothing” in a nation desperate for sublime ideas to rescue it from its ridiculous, foundering realities.
They made the fight about who knew whose father. Who fed whom. Who was given money to dance in public and who took money to make others look good. Who betrayed whom and who ate whose food. If this is not national embarrassment wrapped in tribal disappointment for proud Yoruba boys like us, then I don’t know what is.
From Elders to Entertainers of the Absurd
On one side, you have Femi Fani-Kayode—FFK—the political shapeshifter extraordinaire. A man whose ideological loyalty changes more frequently than New York weather in winter. APC today, PDP tomorrow, back again to APC—leaving Nigerians with permanent political whiplash.
On the other side, you have Aare Dele Momodu—a man who carries one of the most respected traditional titles in Yorubaland, a title that should command restraint, wisdom, and gravitas. A man who has worked for elders of wisdom like the legendary MKO Abiola and who has chronicled, photographed, and dined with both the best and worst of our nation. He should know better about the kind of fights he should allow himself to be drawn into.
Yet, he allowed himself to be dragged into a gutter brawl with a man who has mastered the art of fighting in the mud. To make FFK’s relapse even more disappointing, I had recently given him props for seeming to rein in those old fearsome, combative instincts after his ambassadorial appointment. I honestly thought maturity had finally compelled him to sheath that sword of verbal destruction.
“But alas, he has now fallen my hand only a few days later by bringing out his old playbook of verbal warfare that can drive grown men to tears.”
A Roforofo Fight With Zero Value
Let us be honest. Yes, it was entertaining. Yes, the language was sharp. But after all the fireworks, what exactly did Nigerians gain? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No policy direction. No governance insight. Just a classic case of sound and fury, signifying nothing at a time our nation desperately needed their collective brains.
What makes this particularly painful is the waste. These are not dull men. These are individuals with access, exposure, and experience. These are men who could sit across a table and provide real, uncomfortable solutions to the challenges facing President Tinubu and Nigeria at large.
In Yorubaland, elderhood is not just about age. It is about restraint. Yoruba elders do not perform rituals of public disgrace. They do not strip themselves naked before the marketplace of social media.
This ‘2-Fighting’ Must Stop.
If FFK and Aare Dele Momodu truly want relevance in today’s Nigeria, then let them:
- Debate ideas
- Propose solutions
- Challenge policies
- Offer alternatives
Let them stop dancing naked in the marketplace of egos. History will not remember who insulted whom better. History will remember who helped Nigeria move forward.
