EYO Charles, Daily Trust journalist who was verbally attacked recently by Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation at a press conference in Calabar, says he has forgiven him.
In a Facebook post, Charles, who is a Christian compared his humiliation by Fani-Kayode to what Jesus Christ passed through in the hands of his tormentors.
He added that the former minister is doing the work of the Lord.
“Didn’t our Lord Jesus Christ suffer much more humiliation even to the point of death yet He forgave His tormentors and accusers. Who am I that I will not forgive my elder brother, Femi FaniKayode!. He is doing the work of God,” Charles said.
The ICIR reported how Fani-Kayode, in a video during a press conference in Calabar, Cross River State flared up when the journalist asked him who was bankrolling his South-South tour of projects.
But his action has since attracted widespread condemnation from stakeholders in the media industry, including the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust titles, Amnesty International, Media Rights Agenda and individuals who have asked him to apologise to the reporter.
Fani-Kayode has issued a statement to apologize and retracted his derogatory comments against the journalist.
Charles had said during the press conference that he asked the former minister to disclose who was bankrolling his tour, which he said saw the former minister “rained terrible abuses on me, calling me unprintable names; that I was sponsored to come and ask and insult him.”
“When he returned to his suite, he sent one of his security aides to further threaten me. The man accosted me, saying what effrontery do you have to ask such a stupid question, and what was my next action.”
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