Gbajabiamila: You Have No Right To Clear Anybody – Falana Blasts FG

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has stated that the presidency lacks the authority to exonerate anyone charged with committing a crime.

Naija News reports that Falana stated this while reacting to the presidency’s statement exonerating the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, from bribery allegations.

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

However, speaking to Punch, Falana argued that the Presidency lacked the constitutional authority to exonerate anyone in 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 argued that the executive branch was constitutionally incapable of exonerating any of the parties involved and that the full weight of anti-corruption machinery must be allowed to function independently.

Speaking with one of our correspondents, he said, “The Presidency is not in a position to clear anybody. It is the duty of the police and anti-graft agencies to investigate cases of official corruption.

“The Presidency can only refer Femi Gbajabiamila, as well as the other individual, to the ICPC because allegations of fraud and corruption have been raised.”

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, as well as how that agency had accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

He called for an explanation of how a fictitious body allegedly secured a CBN account and attracted a budget line.