Lest We Forget!

Malachy UGWUMMADU ESQ.

 

As a community exposed to the collateral damage from the sustained feud amongst Okunneye Idris Olarenwaju otherwise known as Bobrisky, Martins Innocent Otse popularly known as the VeryDarkMan, Folarin Falana with a stage name Falz and our Comrade Leader, Femi Falana (SAN), it bears no further repetition that our initial informed position was to simply ignore the rumour mill to which Femi Falana had been dragged in order to legitimize a non-existent story contrived to satisfy societal sleaze but ended up threatening the hard-earned reputation of a notional icon. But, it is not so simple and avoidable where the integrity and stellar records of one of the surviving heroes of our collective struggles have been frontally attacked, questioned and challenged.

The social media space has its own peculiarities requiring indebt comprehension nay, apprehension of the intricacies and nuances of its operations. Although S. 24 of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition and Prevention) Act, 2015 originally prohibits all manner of cyber bullying and stalking, Femi Falana’s (SAN) recent experiences are equally grounded in other causes of action specifically in slander, libel and defamation. Furthermore, since the option of criminal defamation has been taken off the table for obvious strategic reasons including the fact that Mr. Falana himself is involved in a campaign across the West African sub region to decriminalize free speech, it will be a mission at cross-purposes to embark on the criminal defamation of this matter with him as the protagonist.

The Learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) will lecture us better on this topic of defamation having intervened, prosecuted and defended this subject for several decades in the course of his professional career. His two children who featured in this saga, Falz and Folake, are lawyers in their own rights regardless of the vocations and passion they pursue presently.

In a largely dysfunctional country with no discernable growth plan for her youth population, a societal and systemic dimension to Mr. Falana’s experience have emerged. It is in this same era when our youth and younger generations have been unjustly divorced from their historical backgrounds, mortgaged by a thoroughly broken value system and standards, disoriented by the parlous state of affairs in our nation. In such an era, it will be disingenuous to rely entirely on history and records to correct themselves. Hence, the narrative or strings of vituperations which suggested that Femi Falana (SAN) partook of a corrupt arrangement to subvert the rule of law and influence the course of justice are both inconceivable and inscrutable.

The facts briefly put were that a certain convicted Bobrisky reached out to Falz soliciting the sum of N3million as he did from other friends and associates in the entertainment industry. The funds sought were allegedly to procure a special apartment different from the regular  “cell rooms” in the correctional centre upon  conviction. According to the Learned Silk, who has spoken out on this matter, the request was not only declined by his son Falz, there is no record till date showing any transfer of the amount sought or any other sum to Bobrisky. On the contrary, (s)he was thoroughly admonished by Falz to desist from making any such further call(s) to him from the correctional facility without the authorization or approval of the superintendent of the facility either orally or in writing. Till date, there is no record other than their published recording indicating that (s)he ever spoke with Mr. Falana directly or, indeed, discussed anything in relation to state pardon or the exercise of the President’s prerogative of mercy in favour of the convict let alone any, negotiated, amount for that purpose. In this circumstance, our initial conclusion that this whole saga was a high-powered gossip which fed on the need to satiate societal sleaze, but damaged a reputation built over the years, seems apt and guided our initial response.

Now that the matter has been submitted before a competent court of law after the initial pre-actional protocol requirements under the High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019, we remain circumspect on the details and specifics but would discuss the issues generally as one which has attracted huge public attention. Femi Falana (SAN) afortiori Falana & Falana Chambers are vast and sufficiently resourced on this subject. The first time I learnt of the plea of justification as a total defence to defamation was from Mr. Femi Falana in 1999 even before I was called to the Nigerian Bar. It was in the celebrated threat case of Salisu Buhari vs. the News Magazine. On the 19^th of July, 1999 the defunct News Magazine, armed with credible evidence, published the photograph of Salisu Buhari on their cover page with the caption: “The face of a Liar”. The story exposed the fact that he neither possessed the Toronto degree he claimed he had nor was he up to the Thirty Six (36) years age declaration he made to vie for a seat at the House of Representatives and subsequently Speaker of the House. He engaged the services of the legal giant, Rotimi Williams (SAN) who wrote the News Magazine alleging libelous defamation and therefore made the regular demands for retraction, apologies and compensation. The News Magazine under the effective management of the present spokesman to the President, Mr. Bayo Onanuga also operated a “gorilla” subsidiary known as the TEMPO. They ran to their lawyer, Femi Falana Esq. (as he then was) with the said letter. I was right there, not as a lawyer, but a very close associate and Comrade at the level of the Committee For the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) where he, (FF) superintended as the 3^rd National President between (1997 – 2001). I went on to lead the same organization between (2015 – 2019). In that particular instance, I was privy to the instruction he handed over to a junior counsel emphasizing that the response should not be more than two paragraphs by which their letter should be acknowledged and through the same letter dare the Firm of Rotimi Williams to proceed to court on the appointed date, failure of which, the News Magazine would publish the next edition of the story where further particulars of their investigation would be disclosed to the public. In retrospect and as a lawyer now, I can tell that the confidence that Mr. Falana expressed on that occasion and in that matter stemmed from his knowledge and potency of the plea of “justification” as a total defence to defamation. This brief story is told to underscore the point that Mr. Falana is sufficiently conversant with the implications of approaching the court in a situation like this yet, he has decided to go to the same court. In this circumstance, Femi Falana (SAN) and his legal team are well resourced and mobilized to engage, no less in this instance, where they are the victims. About the same time, he related to me the experience of a certain Professor at his alma mata, University of Ife who decided to put his integrity on the line and was subjected to the crucibles of self-evaluation, introspection and cross examination.

You could say that Mr. Otse was not aware of the state of the law before he embarked on those defamatory vituperations. Indeed, he has repeatedly apologized to Mr. Femi Falana through the same medium but not too sure whether it is in the same manner he was required to tender the apologies. The law stands alone with its affirmation that ignorance of the law is not an excuse!.

But as adults and educated Nigerian with minimal sense of history, it is now very doubtful whether the disconnect we see between our youths and the historical contents of their immediate past is a fallout of the absence of history and civic education in the curricula of schools in Nigeria or the general discontent of the youths with the state of affairs in Nigeria and all that it represents to them. In all, the individual choices that undermine or seek to destroy the reputation of proven patriots are precisely what has defied the inscrutable ways of reasoning and providence in this matter. Quite frankly therefore, it is the youths and their choices of distain and indiscretion that are on trial here. The Falanas have played their roles and still shaping the course of history in Nigeria.

Soon after he left the law firm of Alao Aka Basorun, another great Nigerian, an afrocentric scholar and revolutionary, former Chairman of NBA, Ikeja and the entire Nigerian Bar, he set up his law firm which, I understand, was originally known as the “Peoples Chambers” because it was clearly dedicated to the cause of the masses of this country. Over the years and by the nature of cases and interventions he recorded, Femi Falana has lived up to the bidding of that name and justified the confidence reposed in him as a crusader for justice. Very many students and pro-mass cases were handled to logical conclusions by this Firm across the country. From Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) to the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) to the Lagos State University and the University of Jos. From the University of Benin to the University of Nigeria (UNN) the Falana & Falana Chambers made strategic and fundamental interventions that rescued and restored the damaged futures of many an activist. Very many political and legal actors in Nigeria today would have had their academic careers terminated but for the powerful intervention of Mr. Femi Falana (SAN). Degree results and certificates were arbitrarily withheld; student activists were rusticated and expelled from various universities while others were simply victimized by the authorities of the institutions for very many untenable reasons.

At the University of Nigeria, there were two critical interventions he directly conducted which were as symbolic of his numerous involvements as they remained worthy of reporting. In 1986, four Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) students were killed during the commemoration of the victims of “Alli Must Go” Protests. That irked the entirety of the Nigerian students across the country culminating in wide spread protests that literally grounded the country. In consequence, The Babagida Military Junta constituted Tribunals of Inquiry into the crises and uprising. The Government also instigated the arrests and expulsions of key students’ leaders across the country. Late Comrade Chima Ubani was one of those notable student leaders who was not only expelled from the University of Nigeria but was also arrested and detained before he was brought before the Tribunal of Inquiry. This Panel provided Mr. Falana another opportunity to demonstrate his immense commitments to the students’ movements in Nigeria where he spent weeks between Nsukka and Enugu and deployed enormous legal expertise that ultimately liberated Comrade Chima Ubani and his compatriots. His Principal then, Alao Aka Bashorun was to reinforce his team at some point when the proceedings required critical and inter-personal interventions.

Thirteen (13) years llater in 1999, Femi Falana (SAN) had to return to the University of Nigeria (UNN) when my degree results and that of Comrade, Princewiill Akpakpan were withheld for opposing the obnoxious policies of the University administration. For approximately two years, Mr. Femi Falana coordinated this intervention at the Federal High Court, New Haven Enugu. Through a fundamental rights enforcement action, Femi Falana (SAN) led a team of vibrant lawyers under the aegis of the Committee For the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) and successfully compelled the release of our degree results and subsequent recommendation to the Nigeria Law School for the compulsory one year training.

Countless and innumerable students and youth beneficiaries of Femi Falana’s proactive legal team cut across the entire country and have reported their own accounts within the context of our collective struggles. The foregoing account captures Falana’s contributions to the students’ movements in Nigeria. The country, at large, recognizes his stellar contributions to the struggles for the protection of human and workers’ rights for which he had been recognized and celebrated beyond the shores of this country. The Legal profession has been greatly enriched by his immense contributions just as the academic and media communities have acknowledged his professional leadership and competences. It is therefore strange that a Bobrisky aided by another “VeryDarkMan” could perfunctorily defame a person of Femi Falana’s stature in Nigeria and around the world.

As at the time of articulating this view points, it was already reported that the ex-convict Bobrisky had been apprehended by officials of the Nigeria Immigration Services around the Borders of Nigeria as he tried to flee the country. It is no news that his collaborator, the VeryDarkMan had also posted statements of apologies to Mr. Femi Falana on his social media handles. Certainly, those tokenisms have not dissuaded Comrade Femi Falana from instituting the action in the court of law to further afford them, the opportunity to demonstrate the aplomb they once had. These facts must be succinctly put across by all means including the present suit, LEST WE ALL FORGET!