Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, says that the presidency cannot exonerate anyone charged with committing a crime.
Falana said this in response to the statement by the Presidency which cleared the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, of the bribery allegations, it was reported.
Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, described the allegations as the handiwork of a man who purportedly posed as the Director-General of a non-existent government agency.
But speaking with Punch, Falana said the presidency was not constitutionally empowered to exonerate anyone on the matter and urged 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 clearing any of the parties and the anti-corruption machinery must be allowed to run its full course independently.
“The Presidency cannot absolve anybody,” he told one of our correspondents in a chat. It is the prerogative of the police and anti-graft agencies to investigate cases of official corruption.
“The Presidency can only refer Femi Gbajabiamila and the other person to the ICPC on the basis that 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, and how that agency had accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
He demanded an explanation of how a fictitious body was able to secure a CBN account and attract a budget line.