Lere Olayinka, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has challenged human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) to enumerate the significant cases he has won and his contributions to the advancement of the legal profession that warranted his conferment as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), beyond being what Olayinka described as an “arrangee and errand lawyer.”
In a statement released on Monday, Olayinka found it “funny and ridiculous” that Falana seemingly believes “only those who have handled cases in trial court or appellate court are lawyers, and that a lawyer must have handled cases in trial or appellate court to be qualified for appointment as a Life Bencher.”
Olayinka asserted that the FCT Minister earned his membership in the Body of Benchers on merit, having significantly contributed to the development of legal education.
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He then questioned Falana’s contributions to the legal profession, asking, “Apart from going on television to make noise, what has Falana contributed to the legal profession? Even the SAN that he got, was it not an afterthought? Was it not years after his mates had gotten SAN?”
He said; “As Governor of Rivers State, Wike, was instrumental to the establishment and infrastructural development of the campus of the Nigerian Law School in Port Harcourt, which is the best centre for legal education in Nigeria today. He also played major roles in the development of facilities at the Yenagoa campus of the Nigerian Law School by constructing a state-of-the-art 1,500 capacity hall and 200-bed male and female hostels, among other interventions.
“Now that he is FCT Minister, he is constructing a 10-unit housing quarters for the Nigerian Law School, Bwari, Abuja. He has also provided operational vehicles to the school to improve its operation.
“The question is; what has Falana done for the legal profession? Even in Ekiti State, where he is from, he has not contributed anything?
“The Bar Center in Ado Ekiti was built by Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) while the one in Ikere Ekiti was built by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN). Also, Aare Afe Babalola has been sponsoring Nigerian Bar Association annual lecture for years and has been assisting lawyers in Ekiti with medical treatments in his Ado Ekiti teaching hospital. What has Falana done? Nothing!
“Did Falana not fail as a politician when he went to Ekiti to contest for governor and failed woefully?”
Olayinka, advising lawyers like Falana to refrain from misleading their clients, highlighted that Falana had made a false statement on national television.
He accused Falana of misrepresenting the Supreme Court’s judgment on the Rivers State matter by claiming it “had nothing to do with who is the authentic Speaker of the House,” despite the Supreme Court’s ruling addressing the defection of the 27 members of the House of Assembly.
“It was on the basis of the Supreme Court judgment that Justice Emmanuel Obile of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt dismissed the suit filed by the Labour Party against the alleged detection, saying that the Supreme Court’s ruling had finalized the issue of defection.
“But Falana went on television to lie and deceive his client that the Supreme Court didn’t rule on the defection.
“The same Falana said three members of the Rivers State House of Assembly can carry out legislative functions despite the provision of Section 96 (1) of the 1999 Constitution that ‘The quorum of a House of Assembly shall be one-third of all the members of the House.’
“If as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, you could tell your client that Section 96 (1) of the Constitution of Nigeria is useless and in a House of Assembly of 32 members, three can sit, questions need to be asked as to how exactly you qualified as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria,” Olayinka stated.
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