Bolaji Aluko
Femi Falana Responds To Fake Interview
Press Release
BY FEMI FALANADEC 23, 2015
My attention has just been drawn to an obnoxious publication of an interview that I never granted. In the fake interview, I was alleged to have condemned the judgment of the Court of Appeal in respect of the governorship election in Akwa Ibom State. I did not grant the interview ascribed to me by the hack writers. In fact, I could not have condemned the judgment as it is well grounded in law. The so called interview is a hatchet job in every material particular.
Those who know me will attest to the fact that I have never supported the rigging of elections in any manner whatsoever and howsoever. Hence, I have consistently supported the use of PVC and Card Readers which were strenuously opposed by election manipulators in the country. As a lawyer, I have never represented election riggers in any court or tribunal. As a public commentator, I have regularly advocated for the prosecution of election riggers in Nigeria and in other African countries.
Having recently obtained judgments in election petitions that were anchored on the integrity of card readers I could not have challenged the sound and logical judgment of the Court of Appeal which was essentially based on the use of card readers. It is indubitably clear that the hired writers behind the purported interview granted by me are desperately looking for credibility to justify the subversion of the democratic wishes of the people of Akwa Ibom state. I am however compelled to caution the serial riggers of elections in Akwa Ibom to desist from using my name to justify their impunity.
On a personal note, a client of mine, Dr. Ime Umanah was one of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State who ensured that the wishes of the people were respected this time around. He kept me abreast of developments in the political terrain of Akwa Ibom State until his untimely death in a ghastly road accident while he was travelling to Uyo to attend the court where he was facing a trumped up charge filed against him by the former government. If only for his memory I could never have associated myself with the satanic forces in Akwa Ibom state.
Femi Falana SAN
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I Never Granted Any Interview To Nigerian Tribune About Buhari's Anti-Corruption War—Itse Sagay
BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKDEC 20, 2015
Itse Sagay, a legal scholar, has denied ever granting an interview to the Nigerian Tribune to deride President Muhammadu Buhari's anti-corruption
Speaking with a correspondent of SaharaReporters by telephone from Lagos, Mr. Sagay, a professor of law, well known constitutional lawyer and head of President Buhari's advisory committee on anti-corruption, said he was shocked to read a report concocted by the newspaper, crediting him with sharp criticism of the current administration's anti-corruption strategy. According to him, the newspaper's report on his purported interview represented a desperate attempt to discredit President Buhari's anti-corruption war.
Mr. Sagay told our correspondent that he had stopped granting interviews to the Tribune after the paper's editors had twisted an interview he granted them in August. According to him, the paper's account of his August interview was tailored to suit the devious agenda of its editors hence his rejection of all efforts by the newspaper to speak with him on record for an interview.
The Nigerian Tribune is one of the newspapers named as beneficiaries of a payout from funds that were meant for the purchase of weapons to fight Islamist insurgent group, Boko Haram. The revelation of a widespread dole-out of cash to media groups, including the Tribune, has emerged as part of a scandal involving former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (ret.), who is accused of diverting more than $2 billion budgeted for weaponry.
Investigators have revealed that several Nigerian newspapers received N10 million each from the slush fund overseen by Mr. Dasuki. At least 12 newspapers were paid from the fund through Nduka Obaigbena, chair of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), according to investigators. Even though the Tribune denied receiving the funds, subsequent disclosures indicated that the newspaper's editors took part in a meeting where it was agreed that the booty should be accepted.
In dismissing the opinion attributed to him by the Tribune, Mr. Sagay said he had never met or spoken to the journalist who wrote the report, insisting that the interview was made up. He challenged the reporter and paper's editors to provide the public with a tape recording of the so-called interview.
The late Obafemi Awolowo founded the Tribune, and his family still owns the paper, which is one of Nigeria's longest surviving daily newspapers.
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THE FAKE FALANA INTERVIEW
Not worth repeating
THE FAKE SAGAY INTERVIEW
Not worth repeating....
but see:
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