Germany has turned down Femi Fani-Kayode’s diplomatic posting, citing his long record of inflammatory ethnic and religious remarks, Peoples Gazette has learned.
President Bola Tinubu quietly named the ex-minister ambassador-designate to a Central European state on 6 March, but Berlin refused to accept him on 13 March, officials told The Gazette on Sunday. A German diplomatic note described Fani-Kayode’s public comments as “divisive, ethnocentric, tribalistic and religious-fundamentalist,” adding that they risked “destabilising” bilateral ties.
The rejection landed days after Fani-Kayode clashed with British High Commissioner Richard Montgomery at a Ramadan dinner hosted by presidential aide Bashir Lado in Abuja.
Efforts to reach Fani-Kayode for a response were unsuccessful on Sunday. A senior government source said Abuja may now send him to South Africa instead.
Fani-Kayode, one of Tinubu’s high-profile political appointees, is no stranger to controversy. In August 2020 he lashed out at Daily Trust reporter Eyo Charles in Calabar for asking who bankrolled his nationwide tour, calling the question “stupid” before later apologising under pressure.
His messy custody battle with estranged wife Precious Chikwendu and past EFCC fraud, money-laundering and forgery charges—covering sums of N4.9 billion, N200 million and N8 billion—have also kept him in the headlines. Courts dismissed all counts between 2024 and 2025 after prosecutors failed to link him directly to the offences.
