Court remands Farotimi in prison over alleged defamation  

An Ado Ekiti Chief Magistrate court has remanded a lawyer and human rights activist, Dele Farotimi, for authoring and publishing a book titled Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System, in which he alleged that the founder of Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola, corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgment in the service of his clients.

The defendant was charged with 16 counts, some of which include: “That you, Dele Farotimi (m), sometime in 2024, authored, published, and circulated your book titled: ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’, which was received and read all over the world, including Ado-Ekiti within the Ado-Ekiti Magisterial District, wherein you stated at page IX of the book: ‘That Aare Afe Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgment in the service of his clients,’ which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or disturb the public peace, knowing or having reason to believe that the statement is false and thereby committed an offense contrary to and punishable under Section 59(1) of the Criminal Code Act.

“That you, Dele Farotimi (m), sometime in 2024, authored, published, and circulated your book titled: ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’, which was received and read all over the world, including Ado-Ekiti within the Ado-Ekiti Magisterial District, wherein you stated at page X: ‘That Aare Afe Babalola, Olu Daramola, Olu Faro, and the law offices of Afe Babalola & Co, (Emmanuel Chambers) compromised the Supreme Court and the remaining semblance of integrity it might have had when they went back to the Supreme Court and got that Court to swim in the sewer of corruption and shameful self-abnegation,’ which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or disturb the public peace, knowing or having reason to believe that the statement is false and thereby committed an offense.”

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the 16 charges read to him.

Chief Magistrate Abayomi Adeosun ordered that the defendant be remanded in the Ado Ekiti Correctional Centre, while adjourning the case until Tuesday, 10th December, for the court to hear the bail application of the defendant.

Police prosecutor Samson Otsubu, while arguing against the oral bail application, said that the matter is still under investigation, adding that other co-conspirators are still at large, and the published books are still in circulation.

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“The Supreme Court judges mentioned in the book are yet to be investigated. To avoid a threat to national security, we want to humbly say that the defendant should be kept at the Ado Ekiti Correctional Centre pending the conclusion of the investigation,” he said.

In his oral application, the defense counsel, Mr. Peter Akeredolu, who led three other lawyers to represent the defendant, said that after arraignment, the next step is the bail of the defendant since the offense allegedly committed is bailable.

“We are in this court, and when the charges were read, none of the charges is linked to a capital offense, which is not bailable. Chapter 35 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, guarantees the liberty of the people. This application is premised on the fact that an accused is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

“The court should admit the defendant to bail on very liberal terms, especially on self-recognizance. The man in the dock is a lawyer with 25 years’ standing. We pray the honourable court to grant him bail on self-recognizance. There are three health challenges the defendant is currently managing.”

Ruling on the bail application, Chief Magistrate Adeosun said: “I have carefully listened to the arguments of both the prosecuting and defense counsels. Enough materials have not been brought to the court to enable me to exercise my discretion. It is not enough to cite a plethora of cases as the defense counsel has done.”

He ordered the defense counsel to file a proper bail application so that it could be heard on 10th December 2024.