‘FG Lacks Authority To Exonerate Anyone’ – Falana Reacts To Gbajabiamila Case

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, says that the presidency has no power to exonerate anyone who is being tried for a crime.

Falana stated this in reaction to the statement by the Presidency which cleared the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, of the bribery allegations, it was reported.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, said the allegations were the handiwork of a man who allegedly posed as the Director-General of a non-existent government agency.

Speaking with Punch, Falana said the presidency was not constitutionally empowered to exonerate anyone on the matter and called for an independent probe of both the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila and the acclaimed Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council/Presidential Economic Advisory Council, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi.

He said the executive branch was constitutionally incapable of clearing any of the parties and the anti-corruption machinery should be allowed to run its full course independently.

“The Presidency can’t absolve anybody,” he told one of our correspondents in a chat. It is the prerogative of the police and anti-graft agencies to investigate cases of official corruption.

“The Presidency can only refer Femi Gbajabiamila and the other person to the ICPC on the strength of allegations of fraud and corruption having been levelled against them.”

The senior advocate questioned the financial provisions linked to the purported agency, saying, “The government will have to explain to Nigerians how a whopping sum of ₦24bn was budgeted for an unknown agency, and how that agency had accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

He demanded an explanation of how a fictitious body was able to secure a CBN account and attract a budget line.