By Abiola Olawale
Prominent human rights lawyer and activist, Dele Farotimi has explained his position, distancing himself from any individuals attempting to negotiate or mediate, on his behalf, with renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and founder of Afe Babalola University, Aare Afe Babalola.
Farotimi was quoted to have made this position clear when a fellow human rights lawyer, Tope Temokun, visited him at his detention facility in Ekiti State at the weekend.
Temokun, who spoke with the press after the meeting, quoted Farotimi as saying that he never sent anyone to plead with Afe Babalola, on his behalf.
Temokun also asserted that Farotimi told him that he never requested former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi to plead for his release.
According to Temokun: “Around 4:30 pm of this day, Friday, the 13th of December, 2024, we stepped out of the Correctional Service (prison) in Afao road, Ado Ekiti, where we were with Dele Farotimi.
“He speaks calmly but with a loud message. He is unambiguous about it, that all he wrote in his book is the truth. One thing is clear from this visit and hours-long talk that Dele Farotimi knows things that the crowd does not know.”
Temokun explained that Farotimi declared too that while he could not control who Peter Obi would visit in Ekiti, he never sent anyone to Babalola and he had advised those who had visited him, including Peter Obi, never to visit anyone to plead for his release.
“He wants this matter to travel the natural route. He disowned in categorical terms, any move by anybody to beg anyone on his behalf or as a condition for his release,” Temokun said.
“He assertively, vibrantly and untiringly posited that if he had added a single lie to his claims in his book, he would lose heavily in this battle. But if his weapon remains all truth, he will have the last laugh.
“Those who postulated that Dele Farotimi is reckless in his writings and documentations should rather demand a fair play and a level playground so that we could hear the other side.”
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 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.
