JUST-IN: Dele Farotimi Meets Bail Conditions, Regains Freedom

Twenty-one days after his arrest sparked public outrage, human rights lawyer, Mr. Dele Farotimi will celebrate Christmas at home following his release from the prison custody in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital where he was remanded.

Farotimi was arrested by the Ekiti State Command of the Nigeria Police in Lagos State on December 3, 2024 following a petition of defamation lodged against him by legal luminary, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, over Farotimi’s recently published book ‘Nigeria And Its Criminal Justice System.”

Former presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 general elections, Omoyele Sowore announced the lawyer’s release on Tuesday after perfecting his bail conditions.

The Ekiti Chief Magistrate’s Court had on December 20 admitted Farotimi to a N30 million bail condition with two sureties (one of whom must own a house), surrendering his passport, and a media interview ban.

“I am pleased to report that Dele Farotimi is no longer being held at the prison yards in Ekiti State and is now returning home to Lagos,” Sowore wrote on his X handle today.

“The struggle continues! Happy holidays to you all!”

Farotimi was detained on December 4, the day police arraigned him in court in Ekiti after arresting him in Lagos the previous day on December 3.

A Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti had earlier imposed an N50million bail as condition for his release before the Chief Magistrate’s Court’s addition condition bringing the total bail requirements to N80million in both courts.

The fearless activist supporter of the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Mr. Peter Obi and a known critic of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration is also facing trial in two High Courts in Ibadan and Abuja over the same allegation