Legal icon Aare Afe Babalola has pardoned and agreed to discontinue the legal action instituted against human rights lawyer Dele Farotimi.
Farotimi is being charged with allegedly defaming Aare Afe Babalola in his published book, “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System.”
In the book, he accused Aare Afe Babalola of corrupting the judiciary and compromising the Supreme Court to procure fraudulent judgements in the service of his clients.
Our correspondent gathered that the founder of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) decided to forgive Farotimi and dropped the charges against him after holding a closed-door meeting late Sunday evening with Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, and some prominent Ekiti State traditional rulers.
The monarchs it gathered had, during the meeting held at ABUAD, begged the senior lawyer to forgive Farotimi.
Apart from Ooni of Ife, other traditional leaders present were the chairman of the Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers and Olojudo of Ido, Oba Ayorinde Ilori-Faboro, Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, Ajero of Ijero Ekiti, Oba Joseph Adebayo Adewale, Alaaye of Efon Alaye, Oba Emmanuel Adesanya Aladejare, and the Ogoga of Ikere Ekiti, Oba Samuel Adu Adejimi.
The hearing of Farotimi’s case is scheduled for January 29 and February 13, 2025, at the Ekiti Federal High Court and Magistrate Court, respectively. Both courts granted him bail late last year.
Addressing journalists shortly after the meeting, Aare Afe Babalola disclosed that the Ewi of Ado Ekiti had met with him several times in the company of his chiefs to appeal to him to take the criminal case from court.
He added that great people, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mathew Kukah and many others, had done the same thing but he didn’t yield to them.
“I have received countless text messages and phone calls from across the world. From the USA, England and Nigeria on this, but my lawyers insisted it must go on. Ooni and other traditional rulers are all here today because of this scenario. Your coming is unquantifiable in terms of money. It is because of your love for me, for Ekiti and Nigeria.”
Dwelling why he rejected several appeals on the matter before Ooni and other traditional rulers came to him, he said, “When somebody who said I was corrupt. I am the lawyer who defended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) law, but yet I am corrupt. I am the same person who was given an oil bloc because of my service and rejected it twice. I was invited to be a minister and rejected it because whatever I have, I don’t want anybody to think that my money comes from the government. I am the chairman of Transparency International, based in Germany, over corruption. For somebody to come out and say I won my cases through corruption, it sat at the bottom of all I have.
“Looking at his book, you will find that he attacked many judges. Now, he is bothered, but I am bothered because of how I started life without a secondary or university education.
“There is nothing I am going to gain from his imprisonment; if I sue him, there is nothing I am going to gain from any so-called damages. I am not in the quest for more wealth, but rather on how to spend what I already have in helping others. The only time I am happy is when I give. The request they made is simple: take the case, which is a criminal one, from court. When Obasanjo wrote, I said no; when Kukah wrote, I said no, but on this occasion, I say yes.”
Oba Ogunwusi, while speaking to the newsmen, described Afe Babalola as a rare breed, God-fearing elder statesman who holds the Yoruba ethos of Omoluabi and has his most substantial value in high esteem.
The respected monarch told Baba Afe Babalola that nobody can tarnish his good name and image.
He said, “We came as a race to take this thing from you. Your name is more than silver and gold. That is what you have lived for all your life. The whole world has seen that you don’t joke with your name. It is a lesson to all of us that we must hold onto our names. You have fought every battle to sustain that name you have built.
“Nobody can rubbish your name. What is in the name is beyond gold and silver. What is important for us is that an elderly person does accept an apology. Baba, we want to appeal and use our race to instruct you. We are taking it because of the race. Farotimi is your son; you may not know him, but we give birth to different children in this world.’’
“Your name is intact, and it will continue to grow beyond the shores of the entire black race. We have heard you, and no one can spoil your name.
“Whoever wants to spoil it, be it that will be their issue. However, our own issue is that we want to sit on and uphold the Yoruba ethos. We will continue to rally around you and see the great things God is doing through you.
‘’So, to those who care to know, we have settled the issue following Yoruba culture and tradition. We have taken what we needed to take from Baba. But whoever wants to go and do whatever he or she wants will accept the repercussions.
“We have done the needful. Nobody can spoil Baba Afe Babalola’s name. We are here as an institution, and we are solidly behind you.”
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