By Abiola Olawale
Concerns have begun to emerge after reports suggested that prominent human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi, is still being held at a detention facility after being granted bail by the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
It would be recalled that Farotimi is standing trial on defamation charges brought against him by the Nigeria Police Force.(NPF).
Meanwhile, reports emerging on Monday revealed that Farotimi is still in detention due to the stalling of his bail application processing.
According to checks familiar with the development, the court needed to verify documents submitted by his sureties with banks and government agencies.
The checks added that the submission of the documents was completed last Friday concerning the bail plea granted by Justice Babs O. Kuewumi of the Federal High Court in Ekiti. However, the judge has reportedly not appended his signature on the documents to complete the bail application process.
“However, the judge has yet to sign off on these documents, preventing the prison authorities from releasing Farotimi,” one of the sources said.
Also, the bail plea granted by the Ekiti Magistrate Court is yet to materialise.
According to reports, the reason is because the Magistrate, Abayomi Adeosun departed court premises after the proceedings without completing the necessary bail formalities, further delaying Farotimi’s release.
“As for the Magistrate Court which ruled in favour of Farotimi’s bail, the Magistrate left after the proceedings and hadn’t attended to the bail process,” a source privy to the details of the case said.
The New Diplomat reports that Farotimi is currently facing trial in two courts on charges bordering on alleged defamation of Afe Babalola, a senior advocate of Nigeria and a well-known legal mogul in Nigeria.
The alleged defamation content l, which are contained in book which was published on July 2, 2024, dissected cases of alleged corruption in Nigeria’s judicial system.
However, his description of the country’s legal landscape has become a subject matter of litigation in the law court.
It would be recalled that Farotimi had been remanded in the detention facility of the Nigerian police Force by the magistrate court in Ado-Ekiti following his arrest on a 16-count charge of criminal defamation.
He was arrested by officers of the Ekiti police command in Lagos and transported to Ekiti for arraignment.
