Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has withdrawn from the legal team representing Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the embattled alleged Director-General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
Falana confirmed his withdrawal in a brief interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday.
“I have withdrawn from the Adeyemi case,” he said.
The senior lawyer did not disclose the reason for ending his representation of Adeyemi, whose alleged appointment and activities have become the subject of criminal proceedings and investigations by security agencies and the National Assembly.
A highly placed source familiar with the matter said Falana accepted the case on a pro bono basis and advised Adeyemi against granting media interviews while investigations and court proceedings were ongoing.
The source claimed that Adeyemi disregarded the advice and participated in an Instagram Live interview with social media activist Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan.
According to the source, the disagreement deepened after Adeyemi allegedly informed Falana that he would not appear in court on July 27, the date scheduled for his arraignment.
The source said the decision not to attend the court proceedings became the final trigger for Falana’s withdrawal from the defence team.
Neither Falana nor Adeyemi had publicly confirmed those details as of the time of filing this report.
Falana’s withdrawal came weeks after he publicly criticised the police over the handling of the investigation into Adeyemi.
The senior lawyer had argued that the reported arrest of Adeyemi’s elderly father breached constitutional safeguards and could not be legally justified.
He maintained that investigators should have obtained the man’s statement at his residence rather than taking him to a police station.
The controversy surrounding Adeyemi followed allegations that the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, which he claimed to head, lacked legal backing despite reportedly being captured in the Federal Government’s budget framework.
The scandal widened after allegations of forgery, impersonation and conspiracy were levelled against Adeyemi. He has denied the allegations.
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