Legal experts and opinion leaders differ on the issues that surround the ongoing defamation trial of Lagos lawyer, Dele Farotimi, instituted by Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)
By Lukmon Ojerinde
Discordant voices continue to trail the arrest and trial of the Lagos-based fiery lawyer, Dele Farotimi who was arrested early December by the Ekiti State Police Command following a petition against him by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Afe Babalola. Babalola alleged that Farotimi defamed him in his (Farotimi) book entitled, ‘Nigeria And Its Criminal Justice System’. The embattled lawyer is also facing charges of alleged cybercrime.
At the last count, a Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, capital of Ekiti State, granted a N50 million bail to Farotimi, over the alleged 12-count cybercrime charge preferred against him by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun.
Farotimi was arraigned before a magistrate’s court, in Ado-Ekiti, over a petition written against him by the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Babalola, who alleged defamation against him in the contentious book.
The IGP filed a fresh suit marked FHC/AD/CR/104/2024 against Farotimi before the Federal High Court over a 12-count charge bordering on cybercrime.
At the hearing of the matter last week, the presiding judge, Justice Babs Kuewumi, disagreed with the prosecutor, Samson Osubu, who argued that the court should not grant bail to the defendant as moved by his counsel.
In his ruling, Justice Kuewumi granted the defendant a N50 million bail in like sum with a surety resident in Ekiti. The court also ordered that the defendant must submit his international passport to the court and adjourned the case till January 29, 2025, for the commencement of the hearing.
As Farotimi pleaded not guilty to all charges, the police prosecutor requested his remand in prison custody pending further investigation, while his counsel argued for bail on liberal terms, citing the presumption of innocence.
Counsel to the police, Samson Osobu, said Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, who is the lawyer of the defendant, said a SAN does not have the right to appear as a representative of the defendant.
He reminded the court of the Magistrate’s Law of 2014 (as amended), citing a case of Abiodun Bamigboye vs COP with Appeal No CA/IP/2256C/2021, where an agreement was reached that no SAN has the constitutional right to appear or file any process in an inferior court.
On his part, Olumide-Fusika cited the Oyo Magistrate’s law, which explained that any qualified lawyer can appear in the court majorly if the matter is related to criminal cases and any suspect or defendant is entitled to any legal representative in court.
However, the presiding magistrate, Abayomi Adeosun, asked Olumide-Fusika to step down. At the same time, another lawyer, who is not a SAN proceeded, while the court decided based on the arguments.
Taiwo Adeniji, who took over from Olumide-Fusika, applied for bail of the defendant, insisting the defendant’s offences were bailable, according to section 36 (5) of the 1999 Nigerian constitution (as amended) and Act 6 of the African Charter and People’s Rights. He said the bail application is based on hearsay and lack of facts.
Osobu urged the court to review the bail application submitted it, while stressing that the defendant doesn’t merit it and that the application is incompetent and irregular.
In his ruling, the presiding magistrate, Adeosun adjourned the bail application to December 20 as a result of a prolonged disagreement between the two counsel and the lawyer of the defendant.
Reacting to the ongoing travail of Dele Farotimi, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, described it as a sad reminder of Nigeria’s pervasive culture of impunity.
He said there was no better time to remind leaders at all levels of their oaths of office, part of which is to protect the constitutional rights of citizens.
Atiku, who wrote on his X (formally twitter) handle, said: “Dele Farotimi, a lawyer and tireless advocate for human rights, now languishes in prison custody not for any crime but for the supposed ‘crime’ of persistently speaking truth to power.
“His only offence lies in his unflinching commitment to exposing the truths that the government and its collaborators would rather remain hidden.
“More troubling still is the fact that he is detained and prosecuted under the guise of a law that does not even exist in Ekiti State.
“His plight serves as a poignant reflection of the pervasive climate of impunity and the blatant violation of citizens’ rights that has become all too common in Nigeria.
“Yet, perhaps the most alarming of all is the weaponization of the cyberbullying law, which is being used as a tool to harass, intimidate and silence dissenting voices in the opposition and the press.
“On this solemn occasion of International Human Rights Day, let us take a moment to remind our leaders at every level of government to honour the oaths they have sworn to protect and uphold the constitutionally enshrined rights of the people. Only through this commitment can we hope to nurture and strengthen our democracy.”
In the same vein, the National Association of Seadogs and Pirates Confraternity, also frowned at what it termed as heightening cases of human rights abuses in Nigeria and called for the government’s urgent actions in protecting the rights of citizens.
The confraternity particularly mentioned the arrest and detention of Farotimi as well as what it termed a harsh bail condition given to him, saying such is a case of human rights abuse.
Marching through the highway in Jos, Plateau State in celebration of this year’s World Human Rights Day, the association sensitised citizens on their rights as human beings.
Speaking during the procession, Chairman of Typhoon Blasted Seadogs Forum, Jos Chapter, Charles Uwechia, said: “We are here to sensitise citizens about human rights because a lot of people don’t know their rights and how they are being abused. Our organization is humanitarian and issues of human rights abuses are coming up. A typical example is the issue of Dele Farotimi.
“The National Association of Seadogs believes that his rights are abused, putting him in chains; he is not a criminal; the matter is a civil one, and the bail condition of N50 million is outrageous. Governments should renege on some of these abuses and make some changes in the human rights approaches in the country.”
On its part, the Ekiti State Police Command which had since confirmed the arrest of Farotimi, said the lawyer was arrested in Lagos by operatives of the Command on Tuesday, December 3, 2024. This was contained in a statement by the Command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Abutu Sunday, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) who added that Farotimi underwent interrogations at the command’s headquarters in Ado-Ekiti for allegations of defamation of character and cyberbullying.
According to the PPRO said “The Ekiti State Police Command wishes to inform members of the public that one Mr Dele Farotimi is currently undergoing investigation following a petition written against him to the Office of the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command for an allegation of defamation of character and cyberbullying.
“He was arrested today in Lagos with a warrant after all means deployed by the Command to bring him for interrogation proved abortive.
The arraignment of Farotimi sparked a boom in the sale of Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System across the globe.
Due to his ordeal Farotimi promptly moved to the top spot on Amazon’s bestseller list in global politics.
The book, published in July 2024, had garnered little attention until when armed police apprehended Farotimi in Lagos and transported him to Ado Ekiti, a city where Mr. Babalola lives and owns ABUAD.
The arrest and subsequent court proceedings, where Farotimi has been remanded in custody until a December 20, sparked outrage and reignited public interest in the book.
Farotimi’s work delves deeply into systemic corruption within Nigeria’s judiciary.
The author directly accuses Babalola, a 93-year-old senior lawyer, of undermining the country’s justice system by influencing court decisions through bribes and backdoor dealings.
In one section, Farotimi alleged that Babalola “compromised the Supreme Court and the remaining semblance of integrity it might have had,” citing a specific case where the lawyer allegedly secured a favourable judgement.
The lawsuit against Farotimi propelled the book to bestseller status on Amazon and spurred a surge in sales at bookstores across Nigeria.
Readers expressed curiosity to learn about the allegations that have ignited national debate and drawn international attention.
Interestingly, the book outperformed globally renowned titles like Why Nations Fail on Amazon’s charts, a rare feat for a Nigerian-themed publication.
However, pained by global rush for Farotimi’s book, Babalola sued again to seize royalties, block Amazon and others from distributing the judicial corruption bestseller. For this reason, The Federal High Court in Abuja ordered publishers of the book to stop its further production and distribution
The contentious order of the court, also demanded the seizure of royalties and the blockage of Amazon and other online platforms to stop distributing the book.
The order which followed a suit no: CV/5372/24, was filed by the Head of Mr Babalola’s chambers, Kehinde Ogunwumiju, and was dated December 6, 2024.
The order stated, “A order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendant/respondent, whether acting by himself, his staff, employees, servants, privies, representatives, agents, publishers, distributors, sellers, re-publishers, re-sellers, or any other person however described including Amazon Online Bookstore, Rovingheights Bookstore, Booksellers bookstore, Jazzhole Lagos Bookstore, Glendora Bookshop, Quintessence Lagos Bookstore and Patabah Books Limited from further publishing, selling, circulating, advertising, or distributing the physical/hard/digital/soft copies of the book authored by the defendant/respondent titled: “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System,” online. An order of interlocutory injunction directing the seizure of all physical copies of the book authored by the defendant/respondent titled: “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System” wherever they may be.’’
In another petition, the Law Firm of Babalola has asked the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) to bar Farotimi from practicing law for allegedly violating certain provisions of the rules of professional conduct for lawyers.
The 90-page petition dated December 6, 2024, and signed by a partner in the law firm, Ola Faro, was written to the LPDC for prompt action.
The petition reads, “Petition against Tomilola Titus Farotimi (also known as Dele Farotimi esq), a Nigerian lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar with his name on the roll of legal practitioners kept by the Supreme Court for violation of the extant rules of professional conduct for legal practitioners rules 1, 15(1), 15(2b), 15(3a), 15(3g), 15(3i), 15(3j), 26(1), 27(1), 30, 31(1), (2) and (4) of the rules of professional conduct 2023 by bringing the entire judiciary in nigeria into disrepute with his unfounded allegations of corruption against eminent justices of the Supreme Court Of Nigeria, judges of high court of Lagos State, Aare Afe Babalola SAN, Olu Daramola SAN, Ola Faro esq, and the entire chambers of Afe Babalola & co in his book titled ‘Nigeria And Its Criminal Justice System.”
Babalola asked LPDC to strike out Farotimi’s name from the roll of legal practitioners in Nigeria due to the alleged defamatory remarks in his recently published book.
Stating why he arrested Farotimi, Babalola said, “Sometime on 2/11/2024, one of our lawyers while travelling through Murtala Muhammed Airport bought a book by Dele Farotimi titled ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’ published by Dele Farotimi publishers. He read the said book and immediately brought it to my attention. Many of my lawyers also bought the said book and read same.
“We received several calls from professional colleagues, friends and family members who watched a program on Channel’s TV wherein Dele Farotimi was interviewed with respect to the said book where he made several defamatory statements against myself, my law firm Afe Babalola & Co (Emmanuel Chambers), Olu Daramola SAN and Ola Faro Esq.
“We also received several calls from persons who saw excerpts of the book and interview on several social media platforms”.
The plaintiff also picked hole in some paragraphs of the book which he claim defamed his person. These paragraphs state, “That Aare Afe Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgement in the service of his client” See page IX.
“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 the Court to swim in the sewer of corruption and shameful self-Abnegation”. See page X
“That Afe Babalola libeled me and the fact of the libel became known to me in a suit against Lawal Pedro SAN”. See page X.
“That I sued Afe Babalola SAN for libel and he leveraged his influence in the Judiciary to deny me justice”. See page X.
“That I have always been familiar with the fact of our perversion as a People and I have few illusions about equity and justice reigning in Nigeria but I had always assumed that there were lines that should never be crossed. I have however been slapped awake by the brazenness of the judicial brigandage unleashed on hapless citizens, corporate, and individuals by the Nigerian Supreme Court, acting under the direction of Aare Afe Babalola. At least five Justices of the Apex Court have been identified as guilty of odious corruption and or gross incompetence. Either is sufficient to have them removed from their office and this is my petition to the Nigerian people and most definitely to the NJC”. See pages 10 to 11.
“The first we knew of the magic been put together by Afe and his elves must have been around the middle of July”. See page 49.
“While all this was going on, we had a meeting in the law office of Afe Babalola in Magodo, where Olu Daramola SAN made himself unavailable, and had us meet with Olu Faro, a younger counsel……..but Olu Faro Esq was remarkably insolent and assured that we were made aware of just how powerful the law office he worked for believed itself to be and how much above the law and the practice of law they believed themselves to be”. See page 52.
“The judgement of the court was unanimous in giving judgement to the Eletus………But Justice Rhodes-Vivour laid a foundation for the fraud that was to come. He spoke of an unextinguished equitable interest in 254 hectares”. See page 52 to 53.
“We quickly realized that the law office of Afe Babalola & Co, Emmanuel Chambers had outsourced the judgement execution to another law office, the firm of S.B Joseph & Co the firm had fraudulently and deliberately concealed the judgement of AKA’AHS and had underlined the words of Justice Rhodes Vivour to deceive and perhaps mislead Atilade or as is more likely, Atilade was always a part of the original fraud”. See page 56.
“But even as Atilade J. played the contrition game, she was already part of the game plan being staged together by the grandmaster of judicial corruption in Nigeria, Afe Babalola. I have come to the conclusion that the required form of the application and her ruling were all part of the insidious plans of Afe Babalola, his band of crooked lawyers and coterie of crooked/incompetent justices of the Supreme Court”. See page 59.
“The battle to quash the warrant opened my eyes to the extent of the rot in the court system and I came to the knowledge of the sickening realities of the systemic putrefaction. The Supreme Court’s Judgement was doctored by the confederation of lawyers in Afe Babalola’s chambers and the law offices of S.B Joseph & Co and the end desired by the confederacy was sought with the active connivance of the head judge of the Lagos Division, Atilade J.”. See page 60.
“As the mountain of evidence in proof of the Eletus’ fraud began to pile up and in view of the order that Atilade had granted quashing the fraudulent warrant that she had issued and as Afe came to realize how useless the original judgement had become, Afe went back to the accomplices at the Supreme Court and this is the only logical explanation for the shameless and brazen review of the fraudulent judgement by the second seating of the court where the justices destroyed whatever doubt one might have harbored of either corruption and/ or incompetence”. See page 64.
“It was around this time we began to hear rumors of a return to the Supreme Court by Afe Babalola and his magical elves and the rumors became real when I got a call from Tokunbo Williams SAN, who informed me of the receipt of a motion on notice before the Supreme Court, seeking to correct an error in the judgement reproduced below”. See page 64.
“But apparently, we had underestimated the extent of the putrefaction of the Supreme Court and the extent of Chief Afe Babalola’s corrupt reaches into the innards of the Supreme Court”. See page 64.
“The quashed warrant of execution became the basis of Afe Babalola latest excursion to the Supreme Court and the error of my acceptance of the Corrupt offer of an exparte application to quash the warrant for “Documentary Irregularity” became obvious to me. I knew before the motion was heard, that the court was working to the conclusion desired by Aare Afe Babalola”. See page 67.
“The Lagos crowd had been snookered into a corner by the exertions of my chambers and we had demolished the original fraud that was hatched before Afe secured the first of the two judgements………..The Supreme Court cannot hide behind the incompetence of counsel as it has a duty to examine its own appalling intellectual indolence, corruption or incompetence”. See page 70.
“But the court as though enthralled by whatever Afe the Circus Master had Promised the Justices, acted with utmost carelessness about the integrity of the court, the interest of the citizens and the State that they had been sworn to protect. The conspiracy was always a step ahead of us because some of the clients mistook key members of the confederacy of friends and helpers”. See pages 70 to 71.
“The Attorney General had been dragged into the matter. The brutal attempt at enforcement of the original judgement against organized estates and corporate establishments had served to galvanize extremely critical and sensitive mass of the affected peoples and this was when Afe Babalola lost his influence on the Eletus and the Lagos Mafia whose original brief to procure enforcement of the judgement became the dominant force in the conspiracy muscling out the Afe gang. With Afe Babalola rendered impotent, Lawal Pedro muscled in on the queue”. See page 71.
“…… she knows more about the case that culminated in the Supreme Court Judgement and she also knew everything that I had known about the Eletus fraud and Afe Babalola’s shenanigans”. See page 76.
“But Afe knew that he could get the Supreme Court to do whatever he wanted and to rule however he asked. Pedro knew this too and he being the original Lagos boy, showed Afe a bit of Lagos magic. Afe Babalola and the Eletus might have killed the buffalo but had no way from feeding from the carcass. We have turned the corrupt triumph at the Supreme Court into a pyrrhic victory and it was at this point that Pedro craftily inserted himself into the plot”. See page 80.
“If Afe Babalola might be likened to the lion, Lawal Pedro and the Lagos gang are the originally Africa wild hyenas. They literally chased Afe Babalola off his skill. They repackaged the conspiracy, cut the losses and went for the lower hanging fruits”. See page 80.
“This was enough until “eedi” (karma) caught up with Afe Babalola; he dragged Lawal Pedro before the Lagos High Court and the Eletus before ICPC”. See page 81.
“Sometimes in 2016, I started hearing rumblings of some serious fight between Chief Afe Babalola and Lawal Pedro. I was told that Chief Afe Babalola had written a petition to the LPDC, alleging that Lawal Pedro had railroaded his client Gbadamosi Eletu, into an agreement that circumvents his own legal agreement with the Eletus. About same time, I also heard that the ICPC had been pressed into action against the Eletus, Lawal Pedro and S.B Joseph, which seemed quite incongruous, given the fact that the Eletus were not public officers this event stirred an interest in me. I got my popcorn at the ready and waited to be entertained by the squabbling thieves”. See page 81.
“When Amina Augie JSC railed against Chief Afe Babalola’s professional conduct, or misconduct in the Bayelsa case, she did so either as an ostrich or out of ignorance. Afe has been corrupting the Supreme Court from ages past and had led it to commit the most egregious acts of evil and wanting injustice. Afe knows what her ladyship does not know or pretend not to know: that justice does not live in the Nigerian court or you can get the court to do whatever you want, as long as you know who to speak with and who to pay”. See page 83.
“Afe’s letter to Tunde Phillips, then C.J of Lagos State showed how frustrated he had become about the inability to execute the fraudulent judgement. In spite of the fact that he asked the Supreme Court to do what it had never done before……. the Eletus had formed a new confederacy and had neither room or use for Afe Babalola, who had overestimated his own importance to the plot and failed to discern that he had defectively become unnecessary to the new plotters”. See page 84
“Afe is so enmeshed in his corruption that he has lost all sense of propriety and or fairness”. See page 84.
“I have absolutely no interest in taking Afe Babalola’s corrupt money but I was not going to allow a corrupt, amoral man, devoid of any integrity, to define me for posterity when none of us will be around to dispute the hagiographic account of the event”. See page 84
“Afe Babalola was imperial by the suit I filed in court it was designed to blow open the tawdry details of his dirty deals with the Supreme Court…….it was a thing to be having a quarrel among thieves, each knew how far they might push their claim but it is quite another thing to get into “roforofo” fight with a man seemingly incapable of walking way from a fight”. See page 85
“The perils that were been faced by all key members of the twin camps of conspirators………I must close with a caveat; I am not privy to what happened in the conclaves of crooks….” See page 85
“But there was a second incentive. This was the promise to get rid of the nuisance that my libel suit against Afe represented. I knew when I knew when I was filing the suit, that Afe was not in a position to ever defend the suit. He has no defense and he never anticipated that I will ever become aware of his libel and if he did, he wasn’t concerned about what a mere mortal like me could do to a god like him. Afe was offered assurances that he need not worry about the case. The conspirators had it in hand and would extinguish the fire.” See page 88.
“I sued Afe Babalola because I was always going to blow his dirty, tawdry secrets. I did not know how long any of us had to live and I did not want to be dealing with the idiotic arguments that I could envision, of Afe’s proteges, arguing that I was slandering the dead if the book was to be published after his demise. He is already well in his 80s. I have offered him the opportunity to defend himself. He went to extra ordinary lengths to deny me my day in court”. See page 93.
