Rẹ̀mí Fàní-Káyọ̀dé
Olóyè Victor Babárẹ̀mílẹ́kún Adétòkunbọ̀ Fàní-Káyọ̀dé, Q.C., tí ó jẹ́ aṣòfin àgbà ní orílẹ̀-èdè Nàìjíríà SAN, CON ni wọ́n bí ní ọdún (1921–1995). Ó tún jẹ́ ọ̀kan lára àwọn aṣíwájú àti amòfin àgbà ní orílẹ̀-èdèNàìjíríà, óntún jẹ́ olóṣèlú bákan náà ọlọ́lá, ajìjà-n-gbara àti amòfin ọmọ orílẹ̀-èdè Nàìjíríà. Wọ́n yàn án gẹ́gẹ́ bí igbá kejì adarí ìjọba ẹkùn Ìwọ̀ Oòrùn orílẹ̀-èdè Nàìjíríà ní ọdún 1963. Ó sì kó ipa ribiribi nínú ìṣèlú àti ìdàgbà-sókè òfin ní orílẹ̀-èdè baba rẹ̀ láti ọdún 1950títí di ọdún 1995.
Fàní-Káyọ̀dé wá láti inú ẹbí àwọn ọ̀mọ̀wé ní Ìlú Ilé-Ifẹ̀ ní ilẹ̀ Yorùbá ní orílẹ̀-èdè Nàìjíríà. Bàbá bàbá rẹ̀ ni Alàgbà Emanuel Adédàpọ̀ Káyọ̀dé ti ìjọ Àgùdà tí ó ti kàwé gboyè elẹ́kejì ní ilé-ẹ̀kọ́ ti Fourah Bay College, tí ó jẹ́ apá kan lára ilé-ẹ̀kọ́ Fáfitì University tẹẹ́lẹ̀ ní ọdún 1885. Bàbá rẹ̀ Victor Adédàpọ̀ Káyọ̀dé kàwé gboyè nínú ìmọ̀ Òfin ní ilé-ẹ̀kọ́ Fágitì Cambridge ní ọdún 1921, tí ó sì dara pọ̀ mọ́ ẹgbẹ́ àwọn amòfin ti Middel Temple ní ọdún 1922,tí ó sì tibẹ̀ di amòfin tó lààmì-laaka ati adájọ́ ní orílẹ̀-èdè Nàìjíríà. Ìyá rẹ̀ ni arábìnrin Aurora Káyọ̀dé, tí wọ́n tún ń pè ní Fámilókun, tí ó jẹ́ 9mọ Alàgbà ẹni-ọ̀wọ̀ Joseph Fàmilókun ti ó jẹ́ olùṣọ́ ìjọ Àgùdá, tí òun náà ti kẹ́kọ̀ọ́ gboyè ẹ̀kọ́ kejì nílé ẹ̀kọ́ Fourah Bay College kan náà. Ìyá rẹ̀ di olùkọ́ àgbà fún ilé-ẹ̀kọ́ CMS Grammar School tí ó wà ní ìlú Èkó láti ọdún 1896 sí 1914. This was a missionary school that was founded by Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther.
Nínú oṣù Kẹfà ọdún 1985, òun ni ó gbé èrò gbígba òmìnira ní ilé ìgbìmọ̀ aṣòfin àpapọ̀ tí.ó wà ní ìlú Èkó lásìkò náà, ó fi kun wípé ó yẹ.kí ìgbòmìnira náà ó wáyé ní ọjọ́ kejì oṣù Kẹrin ọdún 1960. (the minutes of Hansard, 1958; Richard Sklar's "Nigeria's political parties:Power in an Emergent African Nation", World Press, p. 269; p. 269; Professor Onabamiro's "Glimpses in Nigeria's History", p. 140). ìgbésẹ̀ kékeré.kan wáyé láti ṣe àtúnṣe kan tàbí òmíràn sí èrò Fàní Káyọ̀dé ti oṣù Keje ọdún ní ọdún 1959. Ẹni tí ó mẹ́nu ba ìgbésẹ̀.àtúnṣe sí èrò Káyọ̀dé yí ni Alájì Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, tí.ó sọ wípé kí wọ́n ó jẹ́ kí wọ́n ó yí ọjọ́ kejì oṣù Kẹ́rin tí Káyọ̀dé.pè.fún.kí a gba òmìnira fún.orílẹ̀-èdè.Nàìjíríà lẹ́yìn tí àwọn Gẹ̀ẹ́sì amúnisìn ti.gbà tí.wọ́n sì ti ṣe akọsílẹ̀ ó yí padà sí ọjọ́ Kíní oṣù Kẹwàá ọdún 1960. Tí gbogbo ọmọ.ìgbìmọ̀ sì gbà láti yi padà sí ọjọ́ Kíní oṣù Kẹwàá.ọdún 1960.
Lẹ́yìn tí ó parí ní ilé-ẹ̀kọ́ King's College, Lagos, Rẹ̀mílẹ́kún Fàní-Káyọ̀dé lọ sí ilé-ẹ̀kọ́ Downing College, àti Cambridge University, ní ọdún 1941. Ó ṣe ìdánwò amòfin ilẹ̀ Britain tí ó sì yege jùlọ nínú ìdánwò náà. Ó dara pọ̀ mọ́ ẹgbẹ́.àmòfin ti ilẹ̀.Britain ní ọdún 1945 tí ówọ́n sì yàn án gẹ́gẹ́ bí agbẹjọ́rò fún Ọba Obìnrin ilẹ̀ Brítain ní ọdún 1960. Òun ni ọmọ orílẹ̀-èdè Nàìjíríà kẹta tí ó kéré jùlọ tí yóò jẹ́ agbẹjọ́rò fún náà. Wọ́n yàn án gègè bẹ́ amòfin agbà fún orílẹ̀-èdè Nàìjíríà. in 1977 (he was the third Nigerian to be made a SAN).  Òun ni ẹni akọ́kọ́ tí kọ́kọ́ dá ilé-iṣẹ́ amòfin kalẹ̀ sí orílẹ̀-èdè Nàìjíríà ní ọdún 1948 pẹ̀lú olóy Frederick Rótìmí Williams ati olóyè Bọ̀dé Thomas, tí àwọn náà.ti kẹ́kọ̀ó jáde ní Fáfitì Cambridge àti ti Fáfitì Lọ́ndònù, respectively. The law firm they formed was called "Thomas, Williams and Kayode". In 1970, he established another law firm called "Fani-Kayode and Sowemimo" with his old friend, Chief Sobo Sowemimo S.A.N.
Olóyè Rẹ̀mílẹ́kú Fàní-Káyọ̀dé kó ipa pàtàkàì nínú ìjìjàngbara fún òmìnira ilẹ̀ Nàìjíríà. Wọ́n gbé òun ati Rótìmí Williams àti Bọ̀dé Thomas tì sí àtìmọ́lé ní ọdún 1952, fún ìgbé ìgbésẹ̀ ìjìjà-n-gbara tako ìjọba amúnisìn. Wón yàn án gẹ́gẹ́ bí adarí àwọn ọ̀dọ́ nínú ẹgbẹ́ òṣèlú Action Group ní ọdún 1954. Ó gbé àmì ìdánimọ̀ fún àwọn ọ̀dọ́ ẹgbẹ́ òṣèlú náà kalẹ̀ pẹ̀lú wíwọ tòbí dúdú àti ẹ̀fọn láti fi ìkóríra wọn hàn sí ìmúnisìn ìjọba Gẹ̀ẹ́sì.
Again, in 1954, the Oloye Fani-Kayode was elected into the Federal House of Assembly on the platform of Chief Obafemi Awolowo's Action Group, and he continued his fight for Nigeria's Independence from there. He was the Assistant Federal Secretary of the Action Group and in that respect played a pivotal role, with the Federal Secretary, Chief Ayo Rosiji, in the organisation and administration of the Action Group. He, alongside Chief Awolowo, S. O. Ighodaro, E. O. Eyo, Adeyemi Lawson and S. G. Ikoku, represented the Action Group at the 1957 London Constitutional Conference.
In 1957, he led the team of Action Group lawyers who represented and fought for the people of the Northern minorities at the Willinks minorities Commission in their quest for the creation of a middle belt region which would have been carved out of the old Northern Region of Nigeria. In July 1958, he moved the motion for Nigeria's independence in the Federal House of Assembly (the minutes of Hansard, 1958; p. 269; Professor Onabamiro's "Perspectives on Nigeria's History", p. 140).
In 1959, Remilekun Fani-Kayode resigned from the Action Group and joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, an opposition party. In 1960, he was elected the leader of the NCNC in the Western House of Assembly. In 1963, he was elected Deputy Premier of the old Western Region of Nigeria under Chief Samuel Akintola on the platform of the Nigerian National Democratic Party. He was also appointed Minister of Local Government Affairs for the Western Region in that same year.
In the early hours of the morning of 15 January 1966, Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, a Nigerian Army officer of Igbo extraction, attempted to effect the first military coup d'état in the history of Nigeria. The attempt, though ultimately unsuccessful, resulted in a lot of bloodshed and many senior members of the ruling party, the military and the government of the day were brutally killed. Early that morning the coupists, under the command of Captain Emmanuel Nwobosi, attacked and stormed the home of Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, the Deputy Premier of the Western Region. Fani-Kayode was brutalised by the mutineers in front of his whole family and in the presence of his son, Femi Fani-Kayode, who was to become Nigeria's Minister of Aviation 40 years later. He was then whisked away by them to an unknown destination. After leaving Fani-Kayode's home the mutineers, with Fani-Kayode in their custody, went to the Ibadan home of Chief S.L. Akintola, who was Premier of the Western Region. They entered his house as well and murdered him in front of his whole family. They also wounded his grandson and daughter-in-law.
Chief Fani-Kayode witnessed the killing of his friend S.L. Akintola by the mutineers, and from there he was taken to the military cantonment in Lagos where he was also scheduled to be executed by them. However, luckily for him, on arrival at the Ikeja military cantonment in Lagos, the mutineers were overpowered, overwhelmed and killed by loyalist troops under the command of Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon (who later became Nigeria's Head of State). Fani-Kayode was freed by the loyalists and kept by them in a safe house until law and order was restored in the country. The coup attempt was effectively quelled by the loyalist forces and all its ringleaders were either killed or captured and detained. Out of all the key government officials and senior military figures that were attacked in their homes and that were apprehended by the mutineers and coup plotters that night, including Sir Ahmadu Bello (the Premier of the Northern Region), Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (the Prime Minister), Chief Okotie-Eboh (the Minister of Finance), General Maimalari (the Chief of Army Staff), Brigadier Ademulegun(Commander of the Northern Garrison) and so many others, Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, together with Sir Kashim Ibrahim (the Governor of the Northern Region) were the only ones that were not killed.
Consequently, General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi took over power from the remnants of the Tafawa Balewa government on 16 January, the day after successfully foiling Major Nzeogwu's mutiny and violent coup attempt. He then assumed the position of Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces. However, a few months later he himself was toppled in a successful northern coup d'état which was effected on 29 July 1966, and which was led by Lt. Col. Murtala Mohammed and Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon (as they then were). During the coup, General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi was arrested in Ibadan, together with his host General Adekunle Fajuyi, by northern soldiers under the command of Major Theophilus Danjuma (as he then was). Both men were then whisked away and taken to a road side bush where they were both stripped naked and shot. Such was the brutality of the northern "revenge" coup of 29 July 1966, that no less than 300 Igbo army officers and non-commissioned officers were killed. This was due to the fact that, among a number of other grievances, the northern officers were of the view that General Aguiyi-Ironsi had been far too lenient with Major Nzeogwu and his fellow mutineers after 15 January Igbo coup attempt in which many northern (Hausa – Fulani) and western (Yoruba) political leaders and senior military officers had been brutally murdered.
The suspicion by the northern officers that there was some kind of collusion and understanding between the Nzeogwu group and General Aguiyi-Ironsi was further fuelled by the fact that Aguiyi-Ironsi himself was of Igbo ethnic stock. Forty years after his murder, Aguiyi-Ironsi's son, Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, was to become Nigeria's Minister of Defence and took over that position from General Theophilus Danjuma, the man that had killed his father 40 years earlier. Many have said that the seeds of the northern officer's counter-coup of July 1966, which witnessed the killings of General Aguiyi-Ironsi and many other officers of mainly Igbo extraction and which eventually led to the Nigerian civil war itself, were planted on that fateful night of 15 January by the bloodletting of Major Nzeogwu and his men, most of whom were of Igbo extraction.
After the first ever attempted military coup in Nigeria on 15 January 1966, Remilekun Fani-Kayode and a number of other notable figures were all detained by the military government of General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi. They were later released in July 1966, after the northern counter-coup, led by Lt. Col. Murtala Muhammed and Major Theophilus Danjuma. After Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon became Nigeria's Head of State, Remilekun Fani-Kayode left Nigeria with his whole family and moved to the seaside resort town of Brighton in south eastern England. They set up home and lived there in exile for many years. In 1978, he was one of those that founded and pioneered the National Party of Nigeria. In 1979, he was elected to the position of the National Vice-Chairman of that party and in recognition of his contribution to national development, he was conferred with the honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger by President Shehu Shagari.
From 1990 until 1994, he was a member of the elders caucus of the National Republican Convention (NRC), one of the two political parties set up by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida during Nigeria's third republic. After the annulment of Chief Moshood Abiola's presidential election on 12 June 1993, Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode was one of those who openly wrote about and spoke out strongly against the annulment. He even went to court over the issue. In 1994, the government of General Sanni Abacha appointed him into the Justice Kayode Eso panel of inquiry which effectively probed and helped to sanitise the Nigerian judiciary and rid it of corrupt judges.
Olóyè Rẹ̀mílẹ́kún Fàní-Káyọ̀dé gbé arábìnrin Àdùnní Fàní-Káyọ̀dé níyàwó, wọ́n bí ọmọ márùún: Akinọlá Adédàpọ̀ Fàní-Káyọ̀dé, Rótìmí Fàní-Káyọ̀dé]], Femi Fani-Kayode, Mrs. Toyin Bajela abilékọ Tolú Fanning. Rẹ̀mílẹ́kún Fàní-Káyọ̀dé tún fẹ́ arábìnrin abilékọ Àìná Ògúngbè, wọ́n sì bímọ mẹ́rin. Àwọn ni: Mrs. Remi Nana Akuffo-Addo, Tòkunbọ̀ Fàní-Káyọ̀dé àti Ládípọ̀ Fàní-Káyọ̀dé.