The Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola SAN, in the early hours of Monday, agreed to withdraw the cases instituted against activist and lawyer, Dele Farotimi.
Following Babalola’s petition to the police commissioner in Ekiti State that Farotimi defamed him in a book titled ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’, the police arrested the activist lawyer and arraigned him before two courts in Ekiti.
Consequently, Farotimi stood trial for alleged criminal defamation before an Ekiti State Magistrate Court, Ado Ekiti District and as well for alleged cyber-bullying before the Ado Ekiti Division of Federal High Court.
But Babalola, who spoke at ABUAD after the intervention of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and other top traditional rulers at the midnight meeting, said, he had agreed to withdraw the criminal case, saying, “I will tell my lawyers to withdraw the case.
Babalola, who restated the importance of the Yoruba traditional institution and the influence it wielded, said, “The monarchs are here, they have appealed to me over a criminal charge involving somebody who said I was corrupt.”
The senior advocate said that he felt so bad that Farotimi accused him of winning all his cases through corruption; hence, he rejected all earlier appeals to him to take the cases out of court.
He listed those who had appealed to him to take the matter out of court including former President Olusegun Obasanjo; the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Kukah; and the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Adejugbe.
He said, “If you go through the pamphlet (Farotimi’s book), you will find that he attacked many judges by names, he attacked Supreme Court judges, and none is bothered, but I am bothered. I am bothered because of where and how I started life, from the farm to where I am.
“There is nothing I am going to gain from his imprisonment. There is nothing I am going to gain from so-called damages. I am not in quest of more wealth, rather how to spend what I have for the benefit of others. The only time I am happy is when I give.
In a petition dated November 19, 2024, addressed to the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Adeniran Akinwale, Afe Babalola alleged that defamatory content in Dele Farotimi’s book, ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System’, tarnished his reputation.
Farotimi was arrested in Lagos by officers of the Ekiti State Police Command and transported to Ado-Ekiti, where he faced a 16-count charge of criminal defamation and cyberbullying. Following his arraignment in a magistrate court, he was remanded in custody.
The allegations stem from claims in the book accusing Babalola and other Senior Advocates of Nigeria of influencing Supreme Court justices through corruption.
