Lawyer resigns from ThisDay newspaper editorial board over corruption allegations

Human rights lawyer,

According to a report by SaharaReporters, Falana made his resignation known in a press statement released on Thursday, April 6, 2017 while refuting a story about him in the publication last Sunday, April 2, 2017.

Reacting to the allegations that he influenced the appointment of Ola Olukeyede, the Chief of Staff to Ibrahim Magu, Falana denies ever employing the individual in his law firm.

He said: “In the first place, Mr. Olukoyede has never worked in my law firm. I met him for the first time about two years ago. Having not known him or worked with him closely I could not have recommended him for any position of responsibility either in the EFCC or in another public office. The second allegation is equally a figment of the fecund imagination of the fictitious writers in Thisday newspaper.”

Continuing, he said: “Based on my belief in public accountability, I have never said that the properties recovered by the EFCC should not be investigated,” Falana said.

He further noted that although the address of the property allegedly given to him by the EFCC was not stated in the story, it is public knowledge that all the funds and other assets forfeited by the late governor were handed to the Bayelsa State government sometime in 2010 by the then management of the EFCC.

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Falana also urged members of the public to “disregard the dubious report of the reactionary elements who are hell bent on diverting the attention of Nigerians from the mega-looting of our commonwealth by a coterie of plutocrats.”

ThisDay Newspaper on Sunday, April 2, 2017, had alleged that Falana influenced the appointment of Ola Olukeyede, the Chief of Staff to Ibrahim Magu, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, to that position.