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By Chidiebere Onyemaizu
The apex Yoruba sociocultural and political organisation, Afenifere, has called for the immediate release of human rights lawyer and publisher of the controversial book, ‘Nigeria And its Criminal Justice System,’ Dele Farotimi, alleging that his incarceration and prosecution were outside the strictures of the law.
In a world press conference in Lagos yesterday, the deputy leader of the group, His Royal Majesty, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, described Farotimi’s ordeals as “the travails of democracy, the grievous curtailment of free speech and the deprivation of the constitutional right to personal liberty.”
Farotimi, a member of Afenifere, was arrested in his office by the the police on December 3, 2024, and taken to Ekiti State over charges of defamation levelled against him by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Afe Babalola.
According to Oba Olaitan, the manner of Farotimi’s arrest was reminiscent of the Gestapo style. “Mr. Farotimi was arrested in his office in a manner that can best be described as an abduction. Plain clothes policemen wielding guns arrived his office, roughly shoving aside lawyers and other members of staff and dispossessing them of their phones and other instruments of work.
“As demanded by the rules, the arrest was neither logged nor booked in any Lagos police station, where the arrest took place. Instead, Mr. Farotimi was summarily transported to Ekiti State, bypassing all protocols. It is a setup for a person who is not running away from arraignment.
“Mr. Farotimi had earlier on issued a press release stating that Chief Afe Babalola is the person behind the plan to arrest and abduct him to Ekiti State over allegations of defamation in his book, ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System.’
“Chief Babalola is a senior legal practitioner. Proprietor and and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, a man reputed to wield enormous influence in Ekiti society and a larger than life personality. He has also been a co-traveller with Afenifere in the campaign for the restructuring of Nigeria,” he said.
Describing Farotimi’s arrest as an injustice to Afenifere, Oba Olaitan said the world must know that the system was playing a trick on Afenifere with the human right lawyer’s arrest and arraignment. He queried the Ekiti Magistrate’s Court’s insistence on a written application for bail for Farotimi. “As if that was not enough, the Inspector General of Police slammed a Cyberstalking/Cyber bullying charges against Farotimi at the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti.
“It is noteworthy that Mr. Farotimi was brought to court in handcuffs even as the public is a witness that he is neither known to be a violent person nor a risk to flight from justice. It was a clear attempt to humiliate him. We have seen the the scenario of public office holders on allegation of corrupt practices not being handcuffed.
“In the meantime, cases against him requiring his attention are being filed in as disparate places as Abuja and Port Harcourt, while he is incarcerated for an offence not known to laws of Ekiti or Lagos.
“The delay in granting bail to Mr. Farotimi has confirmed the fears of well-meaning people all over the world that these processes are driven by extraneous considerations outside the facts and laws in respect of the petition on which the police and the Chief Magistrate in Ekiti are hinging their actions. Chief Afe Babalola, like every citizen, has a right to defend his reputation if injured to the full extent of the law but not outside the strictures of the law,” he added.
Afenifere, he further stated, is calling “for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Farotimi and for the investigation of the circumstances surrounding his abduction and travails in the hands of his abductors.
“It is curious that anyone who has read Farotimi’s book, the subject matter of the charge of defamation, could not have come to the conclusion that he relied on court processes, which themselves are public records”
