[dropcap]M[/dropcap]r. Femi Falani, SAN, says that immunity for the president of Nigeria and governors is no longer absolute. I am still looking at Section 308 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to see if Falana had amended the constitution and if he did, why did he fail to apply it to the case of President Buhari’s WAEC certificate suit.
Femi Falana sat on the front row with 12 other senior lawyers to protect and prevent Nigeria’s anti-graft czar from producing a mere secondary school leaving certificate. If they know that the President Buhari doesn’t have a WAEC certificate, why don’t they just say so instead of arguing from both sides of the aisle?
This same Femi Falana argues that tax certificate issues are enough to unseat a state government in the case of Abia State, but Femi Falana says a WAEC certificate, or lack of it, is not enough to unseat a president.
The same Uncle Falana who wants a sitting governor, Ekiti’s Ayodele Fayose to account for certain allegations of a crime, but did not want Bola Tinubu prosecuted over his Chicago certificate issues. What is the reason for this double standard… Tinubu is a friend and Fayose is a political rival.
In 2012, I suggested to Femi Falana that we could change the law to mirror that of the United States where the chief justice would enjoy a life tenure on the bench. He replied, “Do not change the law for a single individual, no matter how good he or she is on anti-corruption issues.
At the time, my mentor, Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar was the chief justice of Nigeria. She had earned for herself the sobriquet of ‘Hurricane Mukhtar’.
I conceded that point to Femi Falana that Justice Mukhtar should retire at the age of 70 like all others even though her lordship had the energy and health to continue. We followed the law.
Hence, I urge Femi Falana, a senior Nigerian lawyer to please jettison his double standard.
By the way, why is it that the names of President Muhammadu Buhari’s family member – wife, children, especially, – keep getting mentioned in major bribery allegations? The latest is now that involves Senator Kashumu.
Carol Ajie is a human rights attorney. She can be reached by email HERE.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
