By Abiola Olawale
The law firm owned by a renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and founder of Afe Babalola University, Aare Afe Babalola, has formally approached the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) with a request to bar Dele Farotimi, a lawyer and well-known advocate for human rights, from practising law.
Babalola’s firm said the move is predicated on allegations of unethical conduct attributed to Farotimi.
This was contained in a 90-page petition dated December 6, 2024, and signed by Ola Faro, a partner in the Law firm owned by Afe Babalola, SAN
The New Diplomat reports that LPDC is a committee established by the Legal Practitioners Act and charged with upholding ethical standards in the legal profession.
In the petition, Faro told the LPDC that he wrote the petition in his capacity “and for and on behalf of the law firm of Afe Babalola & Co”.
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 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 was remanded in the detention facility of the Nigerian police by a 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.
