Former Nigerian minister of aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has said that he regretted the verbal attack on a Daily Trust reporter Eyo Charles at a press briefing in Calabar.
The former minister did not apologize to the reporter directly but only “hope that this will assuage the pain and anger of anyone that was hurt or offended by this ugly episode.”
“I met with my advisors I wish to say the following. I hereby withdraw the word “stupid” which I used in my encounter with a journalist in Calabar,” Fani-Kayode said in a tweet on Wednesday.
“I have many friends in the media who I offended by losing my cool & using such words. I hereby express my regrets for doing so,” he added.
“I would never seek to physically harm a journalist. For the last 30 years, I have defended & worked with journalists & fought for the right of freedom of expression. I am also very close to many in that profession. I would be the last to seek to disparage those that are honourable and noble within its ranks.”
The former minister came under severe criticisms after a video of him attacking the DailyTrust reporter in a press conference surfaced on social media on Tuesday.
