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Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has dismissed the allegation that Idris Okuneye aka Bobrisky while serving his six-month jail sentence from a purported private apartment reached out to him to seek a presidential pardon.
In a recent viral video, Martins Otse aka VeryDarkMan, claimed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) dropped the money laundering charges against the popular cross-dresser after receiving ₦15 million.
In a recorded conversation Otse played online, a voice believed to be Bobrisky’s was heard saying Falana and his son, Folarin Falana aka Falz, tried to get him a presidential pardon in exchange for ₦10,000,000.
While releasing the audio conversation aimed at exposing the alleged corruption involving Bobrisky and officials of the EFCC and the Nigeria Correctional Service, Otse said the Falanas would lose the respect he has for them if the cross-dresser’s claims about them were true.
Falana's reaction
In response to the allegation, the lawyer while speaking on Channels TV on Thursday, October 3, 2024, debunked the claim, saying he has never met Bobrisky.
“Bobrisky never spoke to me. I have never met him. I do not know him from Adam. He was alleged to have spoken to my son, Folarin (Falz),” he said.
Contrary to the presidential pardon claim, Falana said the cross-dresser approached Falz his son on May 4, requesting for ₦3 million to be placed in a special part of the prison.
“My son said this guy (Bobrisky) was appealing to people for assistance and called my son on May 4 or thereabout this year and said can you give me ₦3 million to be placed in a special part of the prison — we call it VIP section.
“And my son said, ‘are you calling me under the authorisation of the superintendent of prisons?’ He said no. Then Falz said ‘don’t call me again. I’m 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 going to call me next time, you either do it through the superintendent, or you write a letter endorsed by the prison authorities.” the Lagos lawyer said.
Falana emphasised that his son has never negotiated fees on behalf of anybody.
Having threatened to institute legal action against Otse, the human rights lawyer described his action as infantile radicalism, saying he would make him a deterrent to other social media users who use their platforms to defame people.
EFCC debunks Otse's allegation
Meanwhile, the EFCC's head of the prosecution team, Bilikisu Bala, has denied the bribery allegation against the commission.
While appearing before the House of Reps committee investigating the matter, Bala said the anti-corruption agency legally dropped the money laundering charges against the controversial cross-dresser because the EFCC could not sustain the charges.
She said it is laughable for anyone to attribute the commission’s decision to drop the charges to monetary issues.