Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has denied claims that he ever accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of being responsible for the killing of Funso Williams, a former Lagos governorship aspirant.
In a post on X on Thursday, Fani-Kayode said Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, had falsely referenced remarks he allegedly made over a decade ago in an attempt to justify himself in an ongoing defamation case.
According to Fani-Kayode, Sowore claimed he once alleged that Tinubu killed Funso Williams, who was murdered in his Ikoyi home in July 2006. He, however, insisted that he never made such an accusation.
“He claimed that I said President Tinubu killed Chief Funso Williams. That is completely false. I never said that President Tinubu killed Funso Williams,” Fani-Kayode stated.
He explained that the comment being cited was made during the heated 2015 presidential campaign, when he served as Director of Media and Publicity for the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Fani-Kayode said his actual words at the time were, “I am not Funso Williams; I cannot be killed like a chicken,” stressing that the remark did not accuse Tinubu of murder.
He added that he had long since withdrawn the statement, acknowledging that it was inappropriate and open to misinterpretation. “I said those words 11 years ago and I have since retracted them, accepting that they were inappropriate and capable of being misconstrued,” he said.
The former minister described Sowore’s decision to revive the comment as an act of desperation, noting that it was improper to rely on withdrawn statements made during intense political campaigns.
He further noted that he left the PDP six years ago and joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2021, after which he became a staunch supporter of Tinubu.
Fani-Kayode said he played a key role in Tinubu’s successful 2023 presidential campaign as Director of New Media and Special Operations, leading a team of about 250 people.
He added that he has remained firmly supportive of the Tinubu administration since its inauguration, insisting that he would not have done so if he harboured any doubts about the president’s integrity.
The former minister also rejected attempts to link former presidential aide Reno Omokri to Sowore’s case, noting that Omokri had retracted his past criticisms of Tinubu after the 2023 election and now openly defends the administration.
