The Ekiti State Chief Magistrate’s Court trying the criminal defamation case against human rights lawyer and activist, Dele Farotimi, has adjourned the case till December 20, 2024, to hear the bail application for the defendant, just as the Chief Magistrate, Abayomi Adeosun, ordered his remand.

This was just as the police prosecuting counsel in the case, Samson Osobu, opposed the appearance of Adeyinka Olumide-Fasuka (SAN) for an ongoing trial at the magistrate’s court in Ado-Ekiti.

Osobu, yesterday, informed the court that the SAN, under the law, could not take over the suit for the defendant at the magistrate’s court. He cited the recent judgment of a Court of Appeal in Ibadan, Oyo State, delivered on July 16, 2024, where the court ruled that a SAN could not appear before the magistrate’s court.

But in his submission, Olumide-Fasuka said that the Ekiti State Magistrate’s Court law enacted by the House of Assembly allowed lawyers, irrespective of status and title, to appear in the court, especially in criminal matters as it relates to the suit against the defendant. He urged the court to reject the argument of the prosecution lawyer, noting that the judgment he cited might not have considered all magistrate’s court laws across the country.

Responding to the matter, the Chief Magistrate said that he would step down his ruling on the matter for him to read the judgment cited by the prosecutor.
He, therefore, ordered Olumide-Fasuka to step down and allow the most senior lawyer in the defendant’s team to continue the case, pending his ruling on the matter.

A lawyer, Taiwo Adedeji, is continuing the case on behalf of the defendant. However, the court adjourned the case till December 20, 2024, to hear the bail application for the defendant and ordered the remand of Farotimi.

MEANWHILE, a coalition of 95 civil society organisations (CSOs) has condemned the recent arrest, detention, persecution and torture of the human rights lawyer despite being granted bail by a high court sitting in Ekiti State,

The CSOs said that the manner of Farotimi’s arrest was an aberration and that he should never have been subjected to the criminal justice process in this case.

Besides, they said that the prohibitive terms of the bail, for what is supposed to be a misdemeanour, raises the real possibility that Farotimi’s right to be tried by a court constituted in such a manner as to guarantee its independence and impartiality cannot be guaranteed.

The civil societies, while condemning the violent nature of the police officers who arrested him, pointed out that the officers were not dressed in uniform and could have passed as armed thugs.

The CSOs maintained that defamation is a civil matter and should be treated as such, saying that Section 4 of the Police Act 2020 forbids the police from wading into civil matters.

They added that those contending the veracity or otherwise of the claims Farotimi made in his book or who feel he has defamed them in any of his writings or speech should seek justice in the civil court where the accused would have had to defend his claims or provide redress should he have been found to have maligned their character.

The CSOs, however, called on the police to immediately drop the charges against Farotimi and immediately release him without preconditions and also called on the Attorney-General of Ekiti State to step in immediately to officially discontinue the case against him if the police do not act fast enough in doing so.

They also called for the repeal of laws that support criminal defamation in Nigeria’s criminal jurisprudence and cases initiated under those laws should be struck out by the courts and also urged the Inspector-General of Police to issue a force-wide order directing the police to cease effecting arrests premised on defamation.