The Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, has revealed why he was not made a minister in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
He disclosed this during a recent interview with The Interviewer magazine. The former Ekiti state governorship aspirant said that he was overlooked as a minister for ideological reasons. He said that some people think he was “too radical”, hence Kayode Fayemi was picked instead.
“I was actually contacted. I was actually invited to come on board. It took me appreciable time to make up my mind. Along the way, I was made to understand there were people who were opposed to my appointment for ideological reasons. For me, it would have been a call to service, not to make money.
”Those who believed that I should mobilize people to put in a word for me, or wanted me to speak to somebody I fought on principle several years ago were, of course, disappointed. This guy actually headed one of the universities at a time students were killed. I had to support the students’ cause at that time. You don’t then expect me to go to him and swallow my vomit. This is what I mean by the ideological price,” Falana said.
He also said there were also “certain leaders” of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that opposed his appointment because he was not a member of the party. “Of course, they are right. Certain people wanted me to be opportunistic by offering to backdate a membership card for me. I said, ‘no, over my dead body’. I wasn’t looking for a job. I was gainfully employed.”
Falana contested and lost the governorship election of Ekiti state in 2007 on the platform of the National Conscience Party, a party he served as national chairman in 2011. He is the father of Falz, a popular Nigerian rapper.
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