Falana and his prejudice against Atiku

Sir: Femi Falana attained the title of “human rights lawyer” when he was working with Gani Fawehinmi, a Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM, of blessed memory), who became SAN (Senior Advocate of Nigeria) many years before his death.

Falana is also a SAN of many years standing by now, but to what extent is he still a human rights activist, since unlike Fawehinmi he has been sympathetic with the corrupt and bloody rulers of Nigeria, including the former President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan and the current President Muhammadu Buhari? I have just read that “Falana, during a programme on Channels TV, said he would have been surprised if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had won the just concluded 2019 presidential election,” because, according to him, “Atiku’s emergence has negative implications,” including the “many negative comments by Obasanjo.”

Moreover, according to Falana, Atiku “is under investigation by the United States government” and he (Atiku) “never came out to deny the representation that he will enrich his friends” and that “he was going to sell the NNPC to his friends.”

As a corollary, “When asked if he thinks Atiku could win against Buhari in court, Falana said: ‘‘Atiku’s chances in court are very tough.” That latter sentence was carefully constructed, since a “very tough” meat does not necessarily mean that nobody can crush and soften it.

The systematic packaging of the other points by Falana is to be expected of a SAN. But the packaging also betrays his prejudice as clear from his claim that Atiku “is under investigation by the United States Government.” Is Falana one of the lawyers employed by the U.S. government? I was angry that Atiku was desperate to go to America. But imagine what all the Falanas of this world would have done to his integrity if he did not go, since even as he went, Femi Falana is still using the America phantom to castigate him? (Aitagafurullahi!) Remember I predicted that God would order Shango (God’s Minister for Thunder and Lightening) to rain thunder on the supporters of Buhari who is perpetuating carnage and economic destruction of Nigeria. I also said Buhari’s supporters would weep like the victims of Buhari’s presidency, 2015 till date, due to their insensitivity to the inhumanities and horrors that Buhari represents.

Apart from that point on America government, no other point raised by Falana seems assailable, particularly saying that Atiku “never came out to deny the representation that he will enrich his friends” and that “he was going to sell the NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) to his friends.”

Yet, I had apologized on behalf of Atiku. I said, on the first point, that next time Atiku would say that he would impoverish his friends.

On the second point, I asked to know what Nigeria is getting from Buhari who doubles himself as the Petroleum minister and is recovering looted funds without accountability for anything to anybody.

I also said that Nigeria’s electricity would have collapsed under the war-mongering Buhari if Jonathan did not privatise it and that privatising the NNPC would end importation of fuel and the subsidy regime, through which Buhari and his cohorts are stealing petrol dollars.

Buhari’s “next level” has started with sumptuous meal provided by Buhari’s wife, Aisha, for the chieftains and elected All Progressives Congress (APC) members, coupled with killings in Kaduna, Zamfara, etc. Hence I said Buhari’s supporters within and outside Nigeria will weep. Fálànà gbọ́ tì ẹ! (Falana mind your business!)

Prof. Oyeniran Abioje, wrote from, University of Ilorin.