Afe Babalola, Dele Farotimi
Court, not social media can save you, Afe Babalola tells Farotimi
The law firm of Chief Afe Babalola, the Afe Babalola & Co, has reacted again to controversies around the arrest and detention of human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi, saying media and street yelling won’t stop his prosecution for alleged defamation and cyberbullying.
Farotimi was arrested on Tuesday, in Lagos by operatives of the Ekiti State Police Command following a petition alleging defamation and cyberbullying by Chief Babalola.
Indeed, Farotimi had earlier stated that officers from the Ekiti command were plotting to abduct him from Lagos, accusing the police of employing underhand tactics to arrest him, despite his compliance with an invitation from the Zone 2 Police Headquarters in Lagos.
However, the police said Farotimi allegedly criminally defamed legal luminary Afe Babalola, SAN, in his book titled “Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System.”
Farotimi was, however, subsequently arraigned before a magistrate court in Ado-Ekiti on a 16-count charge.
He pleaded not guilty to all the charges and the court subsequently ordered his remand.
Against this backdrop, there has been a wave of criticism on social media, with prominent figures including Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, and Omoyele Sowore condemning his arrest and calling for his release.
Sowore, a human rights activist, has urged Nigerians to participate in a nationwide/global protest against what he described as judicial overreach in the prosecution of the human rights activist.
However, a press statement on Friday signed by Adebayo Adenipekun, the Afe Babalola & Co. expressed gratitude to those who have reached out in support over the matter, and emphasised its commitment to defending its name through legal means, asserting that inaction might be interpreted as an admission of guilt.
According to the chamber, “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. 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 said it has a long-standing adherence to legal principles, and consistently operated within the boundaries of the law.
It stated that the decision to pursue legal action was made despite the potential for “spin and manipulation” by Farotimi and his supporters, as it believes this is the only way to address the allegations and hold the author accountable.
It stated there is the constitutional guarantee of fundamental human rights, including freedom of speech, but these rights are not absolute.
“The freedom to speak is not freedom from consequence of speech,” the firm stated. “The subject of speech also has a fundamental right to hold the speaker accountable using lawful means,” it stated.
The law firm said unlike Farotimi, “we believe in the justice delivery system every time, not only when it favours us,” dismissing the claims of bias in its legal victories, asserting that several lawyers have successfully litigated against them in court, which it believes disproves Farotimi’s allegations.
“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 media tactic or street yelling,” the statement said.