Document #1079752
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Chief Olu Falae is one of the political
detainees ordered released on 25 June 1998 by President Abdulsalam
Abubakar "in furtherance of his determination to strengthen the
process of national reconciliation" (Post Express 27 June
1998; AFP 25 June 1998) According to the Post Express,
Chief Olu Falae, a one-time secretary to
the Federal Military Government under the Ibrahim Babangida
administration, was arrested and detained last year in the wake of
the repeated bomb blasts in different parts of Lagos. He was
accused of complicity in planting of the bombs. A former
presidential aspirant of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in the
aborted Third Republic, Falae, who is a member of the National
Democratic Coalition (NADECO), was known for his insistence on a
sovereign national conference to discuss the country's numerous
socio-economic and political problems (27 June 1998).
Another internet report indicates that
Chief Olu Falae is a member of the Action for Democracy (AD) and
that he denied reports that he had been offered the presidential
ticket for the People's Democratic Party (PDP)(Post
Express 27 June 1998). This report indicates that Chief Olu
Falae is actively involved in the afenifere, "I am telling
you that afenifere is solid. There is no squirmishes among
the personalities in it."
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
Sources Consulted
AFP . 25 June 1998. "Libération
de dix-sept détenus politiques au Nigeria." (NEXIS)
Post Express. 27 June 1998.
"Falae, Abakoba, Others Released." [Internet] http:
www.postexpresswired.com [Accessed 11 Nov. 1998]
_____. 19 September 1998. "Falae Disowns
PDP." [Internet] http://www.postexpresswired.com
[Accessed 11 Nov. 1998]