Civil society groups, Network of Civil Society Organisations of Nigeria (NOCSON) and the Ijaw Youth Forum on Tuesday demanded the immediate release of human rights lawyer, Mr Dele Farotimi.
Farotimi was arrested by operatives of the Ekiti State Police Command in Lagos State, following a petition alleging criminal defamation by an elder statesman and senior advocate of Nigeria, Aare Afe Babalola.
The activist was arraigned last week at the Ekiti State High Court but was on Monday granted bail to the tune of N50 million, with a surety in like some.
However, in a twist of events, Farotimi was also arraigned at an Ekiti Magistrate Court on Tuesday for allegation bordering on cybercrime, where an earlier bail application was rejected for improper filling.
Speaking at a rally to mark the World Human Rights Day in Benin City on Tuesday, Secretary General of NOCSON, Comrade Ogbidi Emmanuel said the rally was organized to demand for the immediate release of Mr Farotimi whom he said has a right to freedom of expression as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.
Ogbidi also regretted the death of former state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Kaduna Eboigbodin.
Eboigbodin died two weeks ago after he was allegedly harassed by the police personnel in Benin.
He said, “It has come to our notice that the rights of Nigerians no longer matter, that many a times the rights of Nigerians are being trampled upon by institutions and men in charge of public institutions. Whether the judiciary, the police or other agencies, they no longer uphold the rights of Nigerians.
The groups noted that the Nigerian constitution is the highest law of the land, as it guarantees freedom of expression, as such, they called for the immediate and unconditional release of Farotimi.
Also, speaking at the Human Rights Day rally, the President of Ijaw Youth Forum, Comrade Gbale Joseph, said the rally was organised in solidarity with Farotimi.
He said, “Today, we know is World Human Rights Day. We are using the opportunity to demand for the immediate release of one of us who was arrested unjustly. We want the police to as matter of urgency release him.
Lamenting on the stance of the judiciary on the embattled lawyer, Joseph said, “When the executive err, we look up to the judiciary, when the legislative arm of government err, we look up to the judiciary, but when the judiciary err, who do we look up to for justice? It has become like a burden to us”.
He further alerted the National Judicial Council (NJC), alleging procurement of justice by the elite, accusing especially the political elite of using the judiciary to suffocate the poor and shut down dissent voices.
“What we get from our courts today is judgement and not justice. We are calling on the judiciary to wake up. We want the international community to place visa ban on corrupt judges so that we can all enjoy the proceeds of corruption together.”
For his part, Spiritual Leader of Talakawa Parliament, Marxist Kola Edokpai called for an end to human right violations as allegedly perpetuated by Nigeria security agencies as the world marks the human rights day, while also lending his voice to the release of Mr Farotimi.
“We are here to say enough of human rights violation in this country, using the case of Comrade Dele Farotimi as a classical example, seeing the way he was arrested. We saw how the police from Ekiti State Command came to Lagos to arrest him in a commando style and took him to Ekiti for arraignment for criminal defamation.”
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