Legal luminary and founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola has shed light into the dispute surrounding the arrest and remand in prison of human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi by a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
Farotimi’s arrest generated widespread condemnations among Nigerians who perceived the manner of his arrest at the instance of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria as an abuse of influence.
However, the elder statesman, in a petition to the Ekiti State Command of the Nigeria Police accused the detained critic of defamation in a recent book he authored with the title ‘Nigeria And Its Criminal Justice System’.
Aare Babalola in the petition dated November 19, 2024, and addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, Adeniran Akinwale alleged that the accusations contained in the book arose from a Supreme Court judgment involving a land dispute that lasted over two decades.
Babalola narrated how his law firm discovered Farotimi’s book, “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System” and its alleged defamatory contents.
“I write to report the criminal defamation of myself, my law firm Afe Babalola & Co and my lawyers in person of Olu Daramola, SAN and Ola Faro by one Dele Farotimi in his book titled ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’ published by Dele Farotimi Publishers in respect of Suit No: SC/146/2005: Major Muritala Gbadamosi Eletu & Ors V. H.R.H Oba Tijani Akinloye & Ors,” the petition read.
Aare Babalola claimed that the book contained several defamatory statements that questioned his integrity and accused his law firm of unethical practices, including corrupting the judiciary.
“Sometime on 2/11/2024, one of our lawyers while travelling through Murtala Muhammed Airport bought a book by Dele Farotimi titled ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’ published by Dele Farotimi publishers. He read the said book and immediately brought it to my attention. Many of my lawyers also bought the said book and read same,” he added.
He claimed that Farotimi in the book accused him of “corrupting the Supreme Court from ages past and had led it to commit the most egregious acts of evil and wanting injustice.”
He detailed the the said defamatory statements, including, “That Aare Afe Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgement in the service of his client” See page IX.
“That Aare Afe Babalola, Olu Daramola, Olu Faro and the law offices of Afe Babalola & Co, (Emmanuel Chambers) compromised the Supreme Court and the remaining semblance of integrity it might have had when they went back to the Supreme Court and got the Court to swim in the sewer of corruption and shameful self-Abnegation”. See page X
“That Afe Babalola libeled me and the fact of the libel became known to me in a suit against Lawal Pedro SAN”. See page X.
“That I sued Afe Babalola SAN for libel and he leveraged his influence in the Judiciary to deny me justice”. See page X.”
However, narrating the crux of the case, Babalola in the petition stated that the case concerned 254 hectares of land in Lagos in which the Supreme Court on July 13, 2013 awarded to his client, the Gbadamosi Eletu family.
He further alleged that Farotimi’s comments in the book suggested that he and his law firm compromised the judiciary, thereby tarnishing the integrity of the apex court.
According to the petition, Babalola claimed that Farotimi’s statements, which were also highlighted in media interviews and widely circulated online, were designed to damage his reputation, discredit his law firm, and cause clients to lose trust in his professional ethics.
“All these statements are false and incorrect written deliberately to destroy my reputation. Dele Farotimi referred to me severally in his book as the Doyen of the legal profession,” Babalola said.
The case involved land acquired by the Lagos State Government but later contested by the Ojomu family, who sold the land to Babalola’s client decades earlier.
Babalola’s legal team successfully argued that the Ojomu family acted in bad faith by attempting to reclaim the land after its sale.
However, the judgment sparked litigation from estates affected by the ruling, including Pinnock Estate, NICON Estate, and others.
Babalola said that Farotimi, as counsel to one of these estates, criticised the judgment in his book and accused him (Babalola) of unethical conduct.
Farotimi was remanded in prison custody by a magistrate court in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday, following his arrest on a 16-count charge of criminal defamation.
His arrest in Lagos by operatives of the Ekiti Police Command and eventual movement on road to Ekiti from Lagos for arraignment in what has been described as gestapo style has been condemned by the public.
Meanwhile, Aare Babalola has called for an urgent investigation into Farotimi’s claims, the recovery of all copies of the book, and a stoppage to its further distribution.
He also urged authorities to address what he described as Farotimi’s admitted “disregard for the rule of law.”
Babalola, who described himself as a pillar of the Nigerian legal profession, emphasised his six-decade-long career marked by integrity, discipline, and professionalism.
