‘He told me Igbo are rude’ — Chikwendu accuses Fani-Kayode of tribalism

Precious Chikwendu has accused Femi Fani-Kayode, former aviation minister, of tribalism.

Fani-Kayode and Chikwendu’s marriage failed in 2020. They have since been in a heated legal tussle for the custody of their four children.

In an interview with Chude Jideonwo, TV host, Chikwendu accused Fani-Kayode of being “duplicitous”.

She said the politician sympathizes with Igbo causes publicly but claimed he utters contemptuous words about them in private.

“The first thing he asks whenever there’s a fight is for a picture to debunk stories. He says it’s a cultural thing for the Igbo to be rude and that is why we don’t have a hierarchy. I heard all of that from him,” Chikwendu said.

“He says, ‘you’re rude, saucy. Where you’re from, you guys are rude. It’s a trait of the Igbos.’ Even with the staff in the house, that you are an Igbo staff member is a problem. He says ‘that Igbo boy, I don’t like him. Sack him.’

“There are things I didn’t know about the Igbos that I learned from him. It’s a credit. But the way they’re phrased were things I couldn’t deal with. In public, he’s sympathetic to the Igbo cause. In the house, you’re rude.

“You’re called by your language. ‘That Igbo boy’. The IPOB boys defend him. I look at them and shake my head.”

Chikwendu also said some notable figures including Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB); and TB Joshua, the late Nigerian clergyman; had tried to settle the rift between her and Fani-Kayode.

“He asked for kids as I started getting blackmails of being a golddigger. To shut out insinuations, he asked that I give him sons. We went for IVF and did sex selection. He has five daughters and had never had a son,” she added.

“The embryo was implanted and we waited. Even at the time, I, had the most violent experience, beatings, and all of it. He was beating me while I was trying to get pregnant and even when I was pregnant with my first child.

“He would punch me in the stomach and call the baby a cockroach. He would threaten to get rid of it. Lots of people knew about this, bigs. Whenever he beats me and I threaten to leave, he would call someone to talk to me

“The Dasukis have been involved. Both Colonel Dasuki Sambo and his wife have been involved. Nnamdi Kanu, at some point, called to plead with me. I got a call from the late TB Joshua to come over to Lagos, to settle the issue.”

Chikwendu had earlier claimed that all her four children with the ex-aviation minister were conceived through artificial insemination.