Human rights advocate, Dele Farotimi has been released from the correctional centre in Ekiti State after meeting the conditions set by the court.
Farotimi was freed on Tuesday morning.
Last Friday, a magistrate court in Ado-Ekiti granted him bail, which included a N30 million bond, two sureties (one of whom must be a property owner), the submission of his passport, and a restriction preventing him from granting media interviews after his release.
In a statement to the press following his release, Farotimi expressed that he had never lied about anyone in his life, stating that everything he said about individuals or institutions was the truth.
“It is not ever an easy journey when you are fighting evil, but some years back, before I started this work, God told me that the truth is enough. It is the only weapon with which you can slay the monster called Nigeria, which is the truth. In my war against the evil empire that we all lived in, I have never lied against anyone. If I don’t know, I will say I don’t know,” he said.
Farotimi’s arrest came after the release of his book Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System on July 2.
A few months later, prominent legal figure Afe Babalola accused him of defamation, leading to his arrest in a dramatic fashion at his Lagos office on December 3 by officers from the Ekiti State Police Command.
Farotimi was then transported to Ekiti.
Apart from the defamation charges filed by Babalola’s legal team at the Ekiti Magistrate Court, additional charges were brought by the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, on December 6 at the Ekiti Federal High Court.
Farotimi faced charges of defamation and cyberbullying following a petition by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Aare Afe Babalola, who claimed that Farotimi’s book defamed him.
The police alleged that the book accused Babalola and other SANs of corrupting Justices of the Supreme Court.
