By Ken Afor
Mr. Femi Falana, a renowned lawyer and human rights activist, has criticized President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s private visit to Paris, the French capital, describing it as unconstitutional, unacceptable and highly embarrassing.
According to Falana, it is strongly unethical, inappropriate and flawed for Tinubu to engage in what he called unacceptable private visit.
He said there is no provision in the constitution for a president’s private visit to a foreign country.
It would be recalled that last Wednesday, the President departed for Paris on a private visit and is expected back in the country in the first week of February.
Mr. Falana, while reacting to the President’s trip in an interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica recently slammed the Nigerian leader for embarrassing the country by traveling to France where he is not officially recognized, according to report by SaharaReporters.
According to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN), the president’s private visit is not backed by the constitution, adding that he can not perform official activities while on a private visit.
He added: “I hope this will be the last time that a president of Nigeria will expose the country to embarrassment and ridicule by going to a country where his presence is not recognized.
“There is no provision in the constitution for a private visit by the Nigerian president. Therefore, he can not go on a private visit and still be running the country,” the lawyer insisted. “So to the extent that the activities of the state are still being conducted by him, the question of a private visit does not arise.”
Reacting to the decline in the country’s diplomatic status, the legal luminary gave a graphic detail of how late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulakpo Kuti, earned the country great and admirable reputation and leverage whenever he was on a musical tour to France.
” He would be invited to sit with the former French President, Francois Mitterand, at the Presidential Palace in France”, he submitted.
However, according to Falana, this is in direct contrast to a Nigerian president traveling to the same country on a “private visit” and not being recognized.
Weighing in on the Lagos State governor’s trip to Grenada to attend an extravagant 50th birthday party of an Abuja-based businesswoman, Dr Aisha Achimugu, Falana said Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s visit to the prime minister of Grenada, Dickon Mitchell was a cover-up for the implications of the disgraceful trip to the country.
He said: “The governor of a state in a federation does not conduct foreign affairs,” Falana said. He knows he cannot tell Lagosians that he went on a private visit to attend a birthday party. That is why he had to quickly call on the PM to make it look official.”
The radical Lagos lawyer further reacted to the current state of the country’s judiciary. He applauded some judges for their loyalty to their oath of office.
“It is almost an infinitesimal minority of judges. The system itself attracts corruption in all facets of our lives. If you pay poor wages, if you deliberately starve the judiciary of funds, if you deliberately refuse to allow judicial autonomy, then you are encouraging judicial corruption.”
