Update to NGA29176.E on whether Chief Olu Falae has been released and his current whereabouts [NGA30517.E]

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]