Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has alleged a threat to his life and daughter amid the ongoing N10 million 'presidential pardon' allegation involving him, his son Falz and embattled transvestite Idris' Bobrisky ' Okuneye.
In September, PREMIUM TIMES reported that social media influencer Martin 'VeryDarkMan' Otse posted a recording of a leaked phone call accusing Mr. Falana and his son, Falz.
In the leaked audio, Bobrisky alleged that while he was incarcerated at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre, Falana and his son approached him and offered to obtain a presidential pardon for a fee of N10 million while he served his six-month jail term.
However, this newspaper reported that Falana denied knowing Bobrisky or having ever requested N10 million to facilitate his forgiveness. Falz also denied the allegation but admitted that Bobrisky had contacted him for financial assistance of N3 million, which he claimed he had not offered.
Bobrisky
Defending his and his son's innocence, Falana, during an interview with Sahara Reporters posted on YouTube on Monday, revealed that he and his daughter received death threats from VeryDarkMan supporters.
He said: “The only worrying aspect of this scenario is the threat to me and one of my two daughters. Some of these guys, who I thought were mentally derailed, have challenged me that if I go to court, they will burn down my office, and they also sent messages to one of my daughters that if your father goes to court, we will kill you. .
“In this country I laughed and told my daughter not to worry; I will do it. I've already taken it up and we need to let these guys know where we're coming from. “I have fought against some of the most dangerous military regimes in Africa and the fact that I am alive today.”
Article page with financial support promotion Presidential pardon
Additionally, the 66-year-old emphasized that he has never accepted payment for facilitating presidential pardons since he began his legal profession.
He shared a notable experience from 2022 and recounted how he successfully secured presidential pardon for six Nigerians out of 20 who had been incarcerated at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre.
“In the last 42 years of my legal practice, I have never charged a kobo to write a letter of forgiveness for anyone, and my work in this area is not limited to Nigeria; The last pardon case I handled was that of six Nigerians out of 20 who were taken to Kirikiri Correctional Center in 2022 and through a prison exchange program, six of them were forgotten in prison, a lawyer took charge of his pro bono matter and I traveled from High Court to Supreme Court. When his family came to me, I studied the case and contacted the human rights body in Thailand where they were taken and found out that they were pardoned in 2017, but were still in Kirikiri in 2022.
“From there, I contacted our ambassador in Thailand to send me the instrument because it confirmed my findings. He said he could not pass them on to me directly, but went through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I contacted Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, who was committed to defending the rights of Nigerians. He asked me what I wanted and I told him a copy of the “royal pardon” granted to six Nigerians who were still in prison; He assured me that he would do the needful and as soon as he received the letter, he sent it to Thailand and the instrument of forgiveness was taken to Nigeria. I wrote a letter to the then Minister of the Interior, Rauf Aregbesola. The day he received the letter he ordered the release of the six Nigerians,” he said.
Falana called the accusations made by VeryDarkMan against him and his son totally baseless and unjustified.
Falz Rapper Falz
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) further clarified that Falz never contacted Bobrisky to seek a presidential pardon, nor did he request N10 million.
He stressed that Falz is a person of principles and decency who would never compromise his values or seek financial support from anyone in that way.
He noted: “Most of these guys don't know my son Falz, even though he is from their generation. He is principled and decency and will never go out of his way to fund me. The boy (Falz) doesn't want anyone to know that he is my son; When he started his musical career he was practicing but he left the legal practice where he was doing very well, and he said daddy, I'm not going to practice anymore but I'm going into show business.
“When he started, the NTA invited him for an interview and when he returned home they introduced him as Folarin Falz because he lived with us at the time. His mother asked him why he called himself Folarin Falz. He asked if he should be called Folarin Falana so that the name could be opened to him. He said that he did not want anyone's name to open doors for him, but he wanted his doors because if he said he was Folarin Falana and they granted him the interview, he could have felt because it is his father's name. He said, 'Mom, the day I will be happy is when they ask you if you are my mother and they ask my father if he is Falz's father.'”
Furthermore, he noted that Falz is not the type who would call anyone to ask for favors or demand money in any situation.
He noted that Falz and his brothers constantly refer victims of injustice and human rights abuse to him.
“So he has never made an effort to present himself as Falana's son. I recently told him that you and your sisters sent us people and the way it's going, we'll send you the bill and we laughed about it. He will never be able to do so because he knows that it is not our practice to accept money in exchange for forgiveness. In the audio, I think the guy was supposedly saying that Falz had said that my father would help me write a letter. Nigeria is very corrupt; We need 10 million naira, and he did not say that he would give me 10 million naira in the so-called private discussion with someone.
“Someone else interpreted the recording saying that he is disappointed that Falana could take N10 million to write a letter of forgiveness. I used to have respect for him, so it wasn't necessary, and if you said I'm your uncle, why don't you call me and tell me about the accusations going around? Is it true that I raised 10 million naira for writing? A letter of forgiveness?
This newspaper reported that these allegations have sparked heated public debate, leading to major actions such as the suspension of senior officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), investigations by the EFCC and an inquiry launched by the House of Representatives.