Fayose blasts Falana, APC’S sycophantic lawyer

The Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has described the Lagos fiery lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, as a disgrace to the legal profession over the statement he allegedly made that the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has the power to freeze the governor’s account in spite of the immunity he enjoys.

In statement in Ado Ekiti yesterday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications, Lere Olayinka, Fayose described the human rights activist as a “mischievous lawyer,” who is always out to defend any position that satisfies his alleged self-serving interests.Fayose blasts Falana, APC’S sycophantic lawyer

He said: “Falana is only deceiving the EFCC on Fayose’s matter because of his ambition to contest the Ekiti State governorship election in 2018, thinking that he can achieve what he used the EFCC to achieve against Fayose in 2006 ten years after.”
Fayose said it was shameful that a lawyer of Falana’s standing could say that EFCC was empowered to freeze Nigerians’ bank accounts and secure court orders later.

The governor’s spokesperson said further: “The court order is a condition precedent before a bank account can be frozen and Section 34 of the EFCC Act is very clear on this. It is unambiguous.

“It presupposes that EFCC cannot freeze the bank account of any Nigerian, no matter the status, without first obtaining a court order and making same available to the bank manager.

“This position was also expressed by Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday when he ordered the EFCC to pay N12.5 million damages to the son of former Governor Murtala Nyako, Senator Abdulaziz Nyako, for the unlawful freezing of his account and illegal detention.

“It is therefore strange that a SAN could tell Nigerians that EFCC can carry out an action first and obtain a court order to justify the action later.

“If I may ask, was Falana called to the bar before he attended law school and passed his bar exams? Was Falana’s LLB certificate given to him before he got admission to the university? Was Falana’s Barrister at Law (BL) certificate issued to him before he attended the law school? Was Falana’s birth certificate issued before he was born? Was Falana’s marriage certificate issued before he got married? Has Falana ever travelled to UK or USA and obtained a visa later? Can I, because I can now quote some laws begin to practice as a lawyer and go to university to study law later?” he demanded to know.