Falana scoffs at Tinubu’s “private trip” to Paris, knocks Sanwo-Olu’s rendezvou with “side chick” in Grenada
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Human rights activist Femi Falana, SAN has poured cold water on the claim by President Bola Tinubu that he is in Paris on a purported “private trip”, which is not officially recognised by France and thereby exposes Nigeria to ridicule.
Nigerians generally see the private trip as Tinubu going for medical treatment, despite a new N21 billion State House Medical Centrein Aso Rock, fully equipped to prevent current and future Presidents from going on foreign medical tourism.
“I hope this will be the last time that a President of Nigeria will expose the country to embarrassment and ridicule by going to a country where his presence is not recognised,” Falana said in an interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica
In his view, Nigeria as the country with the world’s largest population of Black people ought to carry itself with some dignity.
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Presidential private visit not in the Constitution
Tinubu jetted off to Paris on January 24, his 57th foreign travel since he became President, which his Media and Publicity Adviser Ajuri Ngelale explained as a “private visit” from which “he will return to the country in the first week of February 2024.”
Falana countered in the interview that a private visit by the President is not recognised in the Constitution.
“There is no provision in the Constitution for a private visit by the Nigerian President. Therefore, he cannot go on a private visit and still be running the country.
“So to the extent that the activities of the state are still being conducted by him, the question of a private visit does not arise.”
Falana lamented the decline in the diplomatic status of Nigeria, recalling how the late musician and social critic Fela Kuti was often invited to the Presidential Palace in France by President Francois Mitterand for recognition during his private visits to Paris and wondered how years later a Nigerian President would travel to the same country on a “private visit” and get no official recognition.
He also berated Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s trip to Grenada to attend a birthday party of Abuja businesswoman and socialite Aisha Achimugu which cost millions of dollars.
He said Sanwo-Olu’s claim to have visited the Prime Minister of Grenada, a country of 130,000 people, was an afterthought to cover the embarrassing implications of the trip.
“The Governor of a state in a federation does not conduct foreign affairs. He knows he cannot tell Lagosians that he went on a private visit to attend a birthday party. That is why he had to quickly call on the PM to make it look official.”
Bloggers have alleged Achimugu is Sanwo-Olu’s “side chick”.
Investigation by PREMIUM TIMES has since revealed that “the photographs of Sanwo-Olu and [Grenadian] Prime Minister Mitchell, which the governor is using as evidence of his ‘bilateral talks’, were images taken during a meeting planned while Sanwo-Olu was already in Grenada.”
Falana also spoke on the state of Nigeria’s judiciary, saying despite the mess in the system, a tiny minority of Judges have chosen to “remain loyal to their oath of office.”
“It is almost an infinitesimal minority of Judges. The system itself attracts corruption in all facets of our lives. If you pay poor wages, if you deliberately starve the judiciary of funds, if you deliberately refuse to allow judicial autonomy, then you are encouraging judicial corruption.”
