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Human Rights attorney Femi Falana, SAN, has expressed his decision to refrain from filing a criminal complaint against blogger Martins Otse, known as VeryDarkMan, who recently published an audio recording accusing him of facilitating a pardon for cross-dresser Idris Okuneye, commonly referred to as Bobrisky.
Falana emphasized that he has no personal acquaintance with Bobrisky.
This marks Falana's first public statement following the release of an audio clip purportedly featuring a phone conversation between Bobrisky and an unidentified individual.
In the audio, which Bobrisky has denied, the cross-dresser allegedly claimed to have bribed officials from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with N15 million to dismiss money laundering charges against him.
Additionally, the audio suggests that Bobrisky reached out to Falana’s son, Folarin (Falz), to leverage his father's connections for a presidential pardon, with a demand of N10 million.
The House of Representatives is currently investigating the issue, while Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has established an independent panel to examine allegations of misconduct involving Correctional Service officers.
During an appearance on Channels TV's Politics Today, which was monitored by our correspondent, Falana criticized the audio recordings released by VeryDarkMan.
He stated that he would have pursued legal action against the blogger if not for his ongoing campaign advocating for the decriminalization of free speech.
Falana said, “Bobrisky never spoke to me. I’ve never met him. I don’t know him from Adam. He was alleged to have spoken to my son, Folarin (Falz).
“Yes my son said this guy was appealing to people for assistance and he called my son, I think on May 4 this year, “Please can you get me N3m to be placed in a special part of the prisons”. We call it the VIP section and my son asked him, “are you calling me under the authorization of the superintendent of prisons? He said look, ‘don’t call me again, I am unable to assist you to bribe the prison authorities and be very careful since you are already in jail for an offence.
“Please if you are you are going to call me next time, you either do it through the superintendent of prison or you write a letter endorsed by the prison authorities and that was the last. Somebody now said he listened to a tape somewhere and went out to lampoon and rather defame me by saying the guy has spoken to me.
“Of course we are going to examine the call logs and my son has also said this was the guy who originated a call to me. My son has never negotiated fees on behalf of anybody.
“On the contrary my three children normally refer people who need assistance to me…
“So what I am going to do? I have resisted the temptation to file a criminal complaint because I am leading a team of lawyers in West Africa to campaign for decriminalisation of freedom of expression.
“This campaign is being coordinated by the Media Foundation for West Africa of which I’m a member of the board . We have succeeded in getting Liberia, Ghana and Serria Leone to decriminalize freedom of expression.
“We are still appealing to other countries in the region to ensure that we respect freedom of expression but that is not a license for defaming people, for blackmailing people.
“And what we are saying if you are defamed, in the words of the late Justice Justice Olatawura in the case of Nwankwo and the State, “if you are defamed by anybody, please go out there and sue for libel where you would put your own character in history.”
“In this case we are not going to file a criminal complaint. We will not be pushed to do that. I’m currently defending a couple of journalists who are standing trial either under the Cyber Crime Act or Criminal Libel.
“What I am going to do is to embark on civil proceedings with a view to restoring our integrity – my own name and that of my son so that nobody will simply rush to the social media to defame any Nigerian.
“We want to make an example in this case. We have asked for a retraction and an apology rendered to us and that is not too much and if we don’t have a retraction and apology acceptable to us and accepted by us, we are certainly going to initiate civil proceedings in the High Court.”