I Never Asked Buhari To Declare State Of Emergency In Ekiti - Falana

HUMAN rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has denied speculation in some sections of the media that he called on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare state of emergency in Ekiti and also lock up Governor Ayodele Fayose.

An online news portal had quoted the legal luminary to have urged the Federal Government to declare state of emergency in Ekiti State if Governor Ayodele Fayose refuses to resign.

“Gov. Fayose should be stripped of the immunity he is currently enjoying by declaring state of emergency in Ekiti, then arrest him to face trial for corruption.” he was quoted by the news portal to have said during an interactive session with some selected students of Nigerian Law School in Abuja on Thursday 7 July, 2016.
But reacting, Falana in a text message to MEZIE TIMES denied making such a call.
“I never made such a call” he said.
He also denied being in Abuja on Thursday.

“I was in Lagos throughout the Ramadan holiday which ended on July 7, 2016. So I couldn't have been in Abuja addressing law students while I was in Lagos.”

He restated his position on emergency rule in a democratic setting.

MEZIE TIMES recalls Mr. Falana had in 2014 reacted to a call by a First Republic minister and prominent Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, to remove the governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, on the account of subsisting emergency rule in the states.

“As Nigeria has successfully replaced autocracy with democracy all actions of the government have to be conducted in strict compliance with the tenets of the rule of law.
“In view of the clear provision of the Constitution on the vexed issue of a state of emergency I am compelled to urge the President to ignore the illegal and unconstitutional call for the removal of the governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.” he had said while reacting to the call by the Ijaw leader.
Mr. Clark had been quoted to have said that, “There is nothing like partial declaration of a state of emergency in the 1999 Constitution; what section 305 (c) of the Constitution contemplates is the recourse to ‘extraordinary measures to restore peace’ and security where there is a breakdown of public order and public safety.

“This in effect means that all democratic institution should be suspended to permit the military exercise full control until peace and order returns”.

But Falana reacted stating that nothing in section 305 of the constitution referred to by Clark empowered the President to suspend democratic institutions in a state under emergency rule.
Falana said, “With profound respect to the elder statesman, Section 305 of the Constitution which empowers the President to declare a state of emergency in any part of the country does not make any provision, expressly or impliedly, for the removal of elected democratic structures.
“In other words, the power of the President, to take ‘extraordinary measures to restore peace and security’ under a state of emergency does not include the removal of elected public officers or the dissolution of democratic structures.

“In any case, state governors cannot be held vicariously liable for the inability of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to stem the rising wave of insurgency in the country.”

http://mezietimesng.com/i-never-asked-buhari-to-declare-state-of-emergency-in-ekiti-lock-up-fayose-falana/