Femi Fani-Kayode was born in Lagos, Nigeria on 16th October 1960 to Chief Remilekun Adetokunbo Fani-Kayode and to Chief (Mrs) Adia Adunni Fani-Kayode.He was christened David Oluwafemi (meaning “the beloved of the Lord”) Adewunmi Fani-Kayode.He is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006.
He was appointed the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the Minister of Aviation from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007.
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode the former Minister of Aviation and Minister of Culture and Tourism of Nigeria was appointed the Director of Media And Publicity at Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organisation
Background and Education
His great-grandfather, the Rev. Emmanuel Adedapo Kayode, was one of the earliest Nigerians to be educated in England, receiving an MA from the University of Durham, after which he became an Anglican priest. His grandfather, Victor Adedapo Kayode, studied law at Cambridge University and became a lawyer and a judge. His father Victor Babaremilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode, who was also at Cambridge was a prominent lawyer and political figure in Nigeria in the 1950s and 1960s.
He was Leader of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons Opposition in the Western House of Assembly from 1960 to 1963, the Hon. Minister of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Deputy Premier of the Western Region of Nigeria from 1963 until 1966 and he successfully moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence in 1958 in the Nigerian Parliament.
Femi Fani-Kayode started his education at the age of 8 at Brighton College, Brighton in the UK after which he went to Holmewood House School in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, South-East England. He entered Harrow School in Harrow on the Hill, United Kingdom and later into Kelly College in Tavistock, UK, where he completed the rest of his public school education. In 1980 Femi Fani-Kayode went to the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies where he graduated with an LL.B law degree in 1983. He entered Cambridge University (Pembroke College) where his grandfather (Selwyn College), his father (Downing College) and his older brother, Akinola (Downing College) had all previously read law.
Victor Adedapo Kayode, Femi’s grandfather, was called to the British bar (Middle Temple) in 1922 and his father, Remi Fani-Kayode, was called to the British bar (Middle Temple) in 1945. After finishing from Cambridge, Femi Fani-Kayode went to the Nigerian Law School and in 1985 was called to the Nigerian Bar. In 1993, under the tutelage of Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams of Ghana, Femi Fani-Kayode became a Pentecostal Christian.
He decided to go back to school to study theology at the Christian Action Faith Bible Seminary in Accra, Ghana, gaining a diploma in theology in 1995.
Political Career
Femi Fani-Kayode was a member of the Nigerian National Congress (NNC) in 1989. He was elected the national youth leader of NNC that same year.
In 1990, he was appointed as Chief Press Secretary to Chief Tom Ikimi, the first national chairman of the National Republican Convention (NRC) and in 1991 as Special Assistant to Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, former head of the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO). In 1996, disturbed by the actions of Gen. Sani Abacha’s military junta, Femi Fani-Kayode left Nigeria and joined the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) abroad where, together with the likes of the Oxford University-trained lawyer Chief Tunde Edu and others, he played a very active role in the fight against Abacha.
He came back to Nigeria in 2001 and met President Olusegun Obasanjo. At the beginning of 2003, Femi Fani-Kayode was appointed by the President as a member of his presidential campaign team for the 2003 presidential election. After President Obasanjo won that election Femi Fani-Kayode was appointed as the first ever Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In 2006 he was appointed as the Honourable Minister of Culture and Tourism. That same year, after a minor cabinet reshuffle, he was redeployed to the Aviation Ministry as the Honourable Minister of Aviation. In 2015, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode was appointed the Director of Media and Publicity at Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign organisation
Since the end of the tenure of his appointment, Femi Fani-Kayode has gone back to the private sector and to his legal practice.
Family
Femi Fani-Kayode has been married four times. His first marriage was to Saratu “Baby” Atta in 1987 and they were divorced by 1990. They have one daughter whose name is Oluwafolake. The second marriage was to Yemisi Olasunbo Adeniji in 1991 but they were divorced by 1995. They have three daughters whose names are Oluwatemitope, Oluwatobiloba and Oluwatuminu.
The third marriage was to Regina-Hanson Amonoo. They were married in 1997 they have one daughter whose name is Oluwaremilekun. In 2014 Femi Fani-Kayode and Precious Chikwendu, a beauty queen and the winner of the Miss United Nations (world) beauty pageant 2014, got married. This was his fourth marriage. On 1 February 2016 Fani-Kayode and his wife Precious Chikwendu, delivered a baby-boy, their first child. He was christened Joshua Oluwafemi Emmanuel Lotanna Aragorn Fani-Kayode. He is Fani-Kayode’s first son.
On May 25, 2018 Precious Chikwendu Fani-Kayode gave birth to 3 baby boys. Their names are;
- Ragnar, Alexander, Okunade, Olusegun, Ikenna Fani-Kayode
- Aiden, Daniel, Olumide, Jidenna, Benaniah Fani-Kayode
- Liam, Michael, Oluwanifemi, Tobenna, Jehu Fani-Kayode
The birth of the triplets was made all the more auspicious by the fact that they were delivered on their mother’s birthday.
Femi Fani-Kayode’s older brother, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, was a renowned and influential artist and photographer who founded the Association of
Black Photographers (AUTOGRAPH) and who passed on in 1989 due to complications from HIV infection.