Afe Babalola, the senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says he took legal action against Dele Farotimi, a human rights advocate, to address the “falsity of his allegations and hold him account for his actions”.
On Tuesday, operatives from the police command in Ekiti arrested Farotimi in Lagos over a petition about alleged defamation and cyberbullying.
Farotimi had, in a statement, alleged that officers attached to the Ekiti police command had perfected plans to abduct him from Lagos.
He accused the command of deploying questionable means to lure him for arrest despite honouring the invitation of the zone 2 police headquarters in Lagos some weeks ago.
The police accused Farotimi of “criminally defaming” Babalola, the legal luminary, in a book titled: “Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System”.
On Wednesday, the Ekiti state magistrate court in Ado-Ekiti remanded Farotimi after he was arraigned on a 16-count. The activist pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Since his arrest, there have been strident calls on social media for his release, including from political bigwigs like Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar.
Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, has asked Nigerians to join a “nationwide/global protest” against the judiciary over the prosecution of the human rights activist.
However, in a statement on Friday issued by Afe Babalola & Co., his law firm, the erudite lawyer said no amount of street yelling and media tactics would stop the prosecution of Farotimi.
“We acknowledge several concerns and suggestions on this subject and the inference that the firm and its members would be better served by ignoring these published falsehoods,” the statement, signed by Adebayo Adenipekun, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), reads.
“However, if we do not take any action to correct the false, reckless, and malicious statements by this author, our silence will necessarily be interpreted as an admission of guilt.
“Afe Babalola & Co is a law-abiding organisation that operates strictly within the law. We are aware of the implications of the steps we are taking and the possibility of spin and manipulation by this author, his acolytes, uninformed members of the public, and others who, like him, view us maliciously.
“Still, we are convinced that the legal steps we take now and in the future are the only way to address the falsity of the author’s allegations and hold him to account for his deliberate assault on the integrity and reputation that our founder, Aare Afe Babalola, OFR, CFR, SAN, LLD, has built and passed on to us over the past seven decades using nothing but hard work, legal knowledge, and trenchant advocacy.
“The constitution recognises fundamental human rights, and our firm has championed these rights in over sixty years of its existence.
“However, these rights are not absolute; the freedom to speak is not freedom from consequences of speech. And the subject of speech also has a fundamental right to hold the speaker accountable using lawful means.
“Since the matter is sub judice, we do not intend to join issues in the media on the merits of our complaints or the strength of evidence against Mr. Farotimi.
“Unlike him, we believe in the justice delivery system every time—not only when it favours us. In six decades of litigating cases across Nigeria, we have encountered several lawyers who prevailed against us in court.”
“Their existence disproves Mr. Farotimi’s wild accusations and indicates that at the end of this process, only the law will matter—not the media tactic or street yelling.”
[TheCable]