The public altercation between the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and prominent human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, escalated on Monday with the minister’s aide questioning Mr Falana’s legal credentials.
The minister’s aide, Lere Olayinka, responded to a recent claim by Mr Falana (SAN) that Mr Wike was “Nigeria’s only life bencher with no case in any court.”
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Earlier accusation
Mr Wike had accused him (Falana) of misrepresenting the recent Supreme Court ruling on the status of the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
In an interview with journalists in Abuja on Friday, the FCT minister said the human rights lawyer misled the public about the ruling and warned that such actions from a senior lawyer could cause unrest.
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“A few days ago, the Supreme Court settled this matter of defection. If someone of Femi Falana’s calibre can go on national television and lie. It’s very serious. Lies can cause a lot of crises,” Mr Wike said.
In response, Mr Falana stated that he was being taunted by Mr Wike over a Supreme Court case the Minister won, dismissing the attack as political.
“He went as far as dubbing me a ‘television lawyer’,” Mr Falana said. “However, I did not respond at the time because Mr Wike is the only Life Bencher in Nigeria who has never handled a case in any trial or appellate court.”
The senior lawyer added that he had refrained from responding to Mr Wike’s utterances at the time because of the minister’s status.
He further clarified that his comments regarding the matter of defection were factually correct.
“All I said was that the matter of the defection of the 27 legislators was raised suo motu and determined by the eminent Justices of the apex court,” Mr Falana stated.
Questionable SAN title
However, in a statement on Monday, Lere Olayinka, Mr Wike’s senior special assistant on public communications and social media, challenged Mr Falana to account for the number of major cases he had won to merit his elevation to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
Mr Olayinka described Mr Falana as an “arrangee and errand lawyer,” accusing him of contributing little to the development of the legal profession.
“It is funny and ridiculous that in the mind of Falana, only those who have handled cases in trial or appellate courts are real lawyers,” Mr Olayinka said.
“Apart from going on television to make noise, what has Falana contributed to the legal profession? Even the SAN he got, was it not an afterthought—years after his peers had already attained the rank?”
Contribution to legal profession
Mr Olayinka also spotlighted some of Mr Wike’s contributions to legal education, including establishing and upgrading Nigerian Law School campuses in Port Harcourt and Yenagoa during his tenure as Rivers State governor.
He noted that under Mr Wike’s leadership as FCT Minister, ongoing projects include the construction of housing quarters for the Nigerian Law School in Bwari, Abuja.
“The question is: what has Falana done for the legal profession?” Mr Olayinka continued. “Even in his home state of Ekiti, he has no legacy. Bar Centres were built by Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) and Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), not Falana.”
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Like his principal, Mr Olayinka also accused Mr Falana of misleading the public about the implications of the Supreme Court ruling on the Rivers Assembly leadership crisis.
He argued that it was based on the judgment that a trial judge, Emmanuel Obile of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, dismissed a suit by the Labour Party over the defection issue.
Mr Olayinka also disputed Mr Falana’s position on legislative quorum, referencing the claim that three lawmakers could validly conduct legislative business in a 32-member House, contrary to the Constitution’s requirement that one-third of members form a quorum.
“If, as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, you could say three members form a quorum, questions need to be asked about how exactly you qualified for the rank,” he added.
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