How could the same Femi Falana who hailed the Department of State Services (DSS) inversion of Ekiti State House of Assembly, be the one to criticise the intervention in the House of Representatives, if not the highest level of hypocrisy?
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| Mr. Femi Falana, (SAN) |
This was the question
the Ekiti State lawmakers asked on Monday, in their reaction to Falana’s
reported condemnation of the security agency’s involvement in the current budget
padding, where the former House Committee Chairman on Appropriation, Abdulmumin
Jubrin, is accusing the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and three other principal
officers of attempting to steal N40billion from the 2016 budget.
Falana, a Senior
Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was quoted as saying that the DSS lacked both the
moral and legal rights to carry out the probe of the alleged budget padding.
The members wondered what had changed for Falana to now argue that there was no legal backing for the DSS to investigate budget padding, which he described as “a straight forward case of economic crime,” and that the agency, by virtue of National Security Agencies Act, was strictly limited to the “preservation and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria,” after supporting the inversion of the Ekiti assembly on the same issue of corruption.
Again, they questioned the lawyer’s attempt to intervene in the recent arrest and detention of the principal officers and administrative staff of the Zamfara State House of Assembly by the same DSS, for attempting to commence an impeachment proceeding against Governor Mohammed Yari on grounds of alleged corrupt practices.
Chairman of the Ekiti State House of Assembly Committee of Information, Gboyega Aribisogan, who conveyed the position of members, said in a statement on Monday that: “Falana should be ashamed that he gave tacit support to the DSS when the agency engaged in illegalities in Ekiti, his home state and now elects to complain when the same DSS extended its illegalities to the House of Representatives and Zamfara State House of Assembly.
“The question that Mr Femi Falana (SAN) needs to answer is whether he just realised that the duty of the DSS according to the National Security Agencies Act, is strictly limited to the preservation and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria.
“Also, Falana needs to tell Nigerians whether the DSS invasion of the Ekiti State House of Assembly that he supported was in preservation of internal security of Nigeria.”
Describing Falana’s stance on political issues in Nigeria as hypocritical, the House said it was sad that the self-professed human rights lawyer always find his voice only when his political allies in
his party, All Progressives Congress (APC) were involved.
He added: “Throughout the four years of the APC government of Dr Kayode Fayemi, Falana did not utter a word to condemn the murder of 10 indigenes of the State that were killed by agents of the government.
“It is on record that the APC Chairman in Ekiti State, Jide Awe, who is standing trial over the murder of Ayo Jeje and Mrs Juliana Adewumi in Erijiyan Ekiti has remained a fugitive and Falana has been relating with him (Awe) despite that a warrant of arrest was issued against him?
“The question is, is Falana’s human rights activism only about defending the interests of his political allies in his party, the APC? Could Falana have spoken against the DSS arrest of and detention of the principal officers and administrative staff of the Zamfara State House of Assembly if Zamfara was a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) controlled State like Ekiti?
“That was the same way he (Falana) said in an interview in Punch newspaper on July 15, 2014 that Ekiti governorship election was not rigged and that Fayose won fair and square, only to come back close 18 months after to say that the election was fraudulent.
“It is our view that a credible rights activist will not blow hot and cold at the same time as being done by Falana, and Nigerians should stop taking self-centred political activists like him seriously.”
The members wondered what had changed for Falana to now argue that there was no legal backing for the DSS to investigate budget padding, which he described as “a straight forward case of economic crime,” and that the agency, by virtue of National Security Agencies Act, was strictly limited to the “preservation and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria,” after supporting the inversion of the Ekiti assembly on the same issue of corruption.
Again, they questioned the lawyer’s attempt to intervene in the recent arrest and detention of the principal officers and administrative staff of the Zamfara State House of Assembly by the same DSS, for attempting to commence an impeachment proceeding against Governor Mohammed Yari on grounds of alleged corrupt practices.
Chairman of the Ekiti State House of Assembly Committee of Information, Gboyega Aribisogan, who conveyed the position of members, said in a statement on Monday that: “Falana should be ashamed that he gave tacit support to the DSS when the agency engaged in illegalities in Ekiti, his home state and now elects to complain when the same DSS extended its illegalities to the House of Representatives and Zamfara State House of Assembly.
“The question that Mr Femi Falana (SAN) needs to answer is whether he just realised that the duty of the DSS according to the National Security Agencies Act, is strictly limited to the preservation and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria.
“Also, Falana needs to tell Nigerians whether the DSS invasion of the Ekiti State House of Assembly that he supported was in preservation of internal security of Nigeria.”
Describing Falana’s stance on political issues in Nigeria as hypocritical, the House said it was sad that the self-professed human rights lawyer always find his voice only when his political allies in
his party, All Progressives Congress (APC) were involved.
He added: “Throughout the four years of the APC government of Dr Kayode Fayemi, Falana did not utter a word to condemn the murder of 10 indigenes of the State that were killed by agents of the government.
“It is on record that the APC Chairman in Ekiti State, Jide Awe, who is standing trial over the murder of Ayo Jeje and Mrs Juliana Adewumi in Erijiyan Ekiti has remained a fugitive and Falana has been relating with him (Awe) despite that a warrant of arrest was issued against him?
“The question is, is Falana’s human rights activism only about defending the interests of his political allies in his party, the APC? Could Falana have spoken against the DSS arrest of and detention of the principal officers and administrative staff of the Zamfara State House of Assembly if Zamfara was a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) controlled State like Ekiti?
“That was the same way he (Falana) said in an interview in Punch newspaper on July 15, 2014 that Ekiti governorship election was not rigged and that Fayose won fair and square, only to come back close 18 months after to say that the election was fraudulent.
“It is our view that a credible rights activist will not blow hot and cold at the same time as being done by Falana, and Nigerians should stop taking self-centred political activists like him seriously.”
Source Whirlwindnews.com
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