Prominent Senior Advocate of Nigeria and founder of Afe Babalola University, Aare Afe Babalola, has finally spoken out regarding the arrest of human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi.
Babalola accuses Farotimi of defaming him in a recently released book.
The controversy originates from a Supreme Court ruling in a long-standing land dispute.
In a formal petition submitted to the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Adeniran Akinwale, Babalola outlined the circumstances surrounding Farotimi’s book, Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System, which he claims contains defamatory statements about him.
According to Babalola, the book questions his personal integrity and accuses his law firm of engaging in unethical practices, including undermining the judiciary.
Furthermore, the book alleges that Babalola had “corrupted the Supreme Court from ages past and had led it to commit the most egregious acts of evil and wanting injustice.”
The petition, dated November 19, reads:
“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.”
Babalola explained that on November 2, 2024, one of his lawyers, while passing through Murtala Muhammed Airport, bought Farotimi’s book.
After reading it, the lawyer immediately brought the matter to his attention.
Other lawyers in his firm also purchased the book and confirmed the defamatory nature of its contents.
The petition further details the defamatory statements as follows:
“That Aare Afe Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgement in the service of his client.”
“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.”
