Wike’s aide fires back at Falana over S’Court verdict on Rivers Assembly

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, has lashed out at human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), challenging the latter to list the number of major cases he won to become a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

Olayinka challenged Falana to also list what he has done for the development of the legal profession that qualified him to be a SAN, apart from being an “arrangee and errand lawyer”.

Falana had, in a statement on Sunday, April 20, 2025, dared Wike to report him to the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee over his (Falana’s) analysis of the Supreme Court judgement on the political crisis in Rivers State.

The lawyer accused Wike of trying in vain to incite the Supreme Court against him, adding that contrary to the minister’s claim, he did not lie or misrepresent the Supreme Court’s judgement on the defection of 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

However, Olayinka, in a statement on Monday, April 21, said Falana lied by saying that the Supreme Court verdict “had nothing to do with who is the authentic Speaker of the House”.

The minister’s aide said: “It was on the basis of the Supreme Court judgment that Justice Emmanuel Obile of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt dismissed the suit filed by the Labour Party against the alleged detection, saying that the Supreme Court’s ruling had finalized the issue of defection.

“But Falana went on television to lie and deceive his client that the Supreme Court didn’t rule on the defection.

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“The same Falana said three members of the Rivers State House of Assembly can carry out legislative functions despite the provision of Section 96 (1) of the 1999 Constitution that ‘The quorum of a House of Assembly shall be one-third of all the members of the House.’

“If as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, you could tell your client that Section 96 (1) of the Constitution of Nigeria is useless and in a House of Assembly of 32 members, three can sit, questions need to be asked as to how exactly you qualified as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.”

Olayinka further stated that Wike got his membership of the Body of Benchers on merit, having contributed immensely to the advancement of legal education.

He added: “Apart from going on television to make noise, what has Falana contributed to the legal profession? Even the SAN that he got, was it not an afterthought? Was it not years after his mates had gotten SAN?

“As Governor of Rivers State, Wike, was instrumental to the establishment and infrastructural development of the campus of the Nigerian Law School in Port Harcourt, which is the best centre for legal education in Nigeria today.

“He also played major roles in the development of facilities at the Yenagoa campus of the Nigerian Law School by constructing a state-of-the-art 1,500 capacity hall and 200-bed male and female hostels, among other interventions.

“Now that he is FCT Minister, he is constructing a 10-unit housing quarters for the Nigerian Law school, Bwari, Abuja. He has also provided operational vehicles to the school to improve its operation.

“The question is; what has Falana done for the legal profession? Even in Ekiti State, where he is from, he has not contributed anything.

“The Bar Center in Ado Ekiti was built by Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) while the one in Ikere Ekiti was built by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN). Also, Aare Afe Babalola has been sponsoring Nigerian Bar Association annual lecture for years and has been assisting lawyers in Ekiti with medical treatments in his Ado Ekiti teaching hospital. What has Falana done? Nothing!

“Did Falana not fail as a politician when he went to Ekiti to contest for governor and failed woefully?”

The Star