Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana , has denied receiving N28million from the suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, who is being investigated for corruption allegations by a special presidential panel.
Falana, in a pre-action letter signed by his lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), demanded a retraction of the claim by a newspaper which published the online story.
The newspaper’s story was based on a report published by the federal government-owned news medium, which claimed to have obtained the final report of a prior presidential panel allegedly indicting Magu for being unable to account for the interest generated from N550billion cash recovered from 2015 to 2020.
According to the report, the said presidential panel’s report exposed acts of corruption and money laundering against some EFCC officials, including Magu.
Falana’s lawyer in his letter demanded the retraction of the publication within 48 hours, insisting that the story was “damning against my client because his entire career as a lawyer has been devoted to fighting human rights abuses and corruption in high and low place”.
Olumide-Fusika stated, “In the circumstance, my immediate instruction is to demand that you acknowledge your wrongdoing, expressly admit that what you imputed against my client was false, and apologise for your unprofessionalism and the damage you have caused to him.
“I do hope that you will, within the next 48 hours, comply with this gentlemanly request by publication on the front page of your newspaper. Failing compliance, my instruction is to issue a rit in the tort of defamation in other to afford you an opportunity to prove what you imputed against his my client’s character.”
