Renowned legal luminary and founder of Afe Babalola University, Aare Afe Babalola, has broken his silence over the recent detention of human rights lawyer Dele Farotimi, accusing him of criminal defamation.
The accusations stem from Farotimi’s book, Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System, which Babalola alleges contains defamatory statements targeting his law firm and reputation.
In a petition dated November 19 and addressed to the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Adeniran Akinwale, Babalola detailed how his team discovered what he described as “false and malicious” claims in the book. He asserted that the publication questioned his integrity and accused his firm, Afe Babalola & Co., of unethical practices, including influencing the Supreme Court in a decades-long land dispute case.
Babalola specifically referenced allegations in the book, stating, “The book accused me of corrupting the Supreme Court from ages past and leading it to commit the most egregious acts of evil and wanting injustice.”
The Petition’s Details
In the petition, Babalola highlighted the process by which the book came to his attention. He wrote “Sometime on 2/11/2024, one of our lawyers, while travelling through Murtala Muhammed Airport, bought a book by Dele Farotimi titled ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.’ He read the said book and immediately brought it to my attention. Many of my lawyers also bought the said book and read the same.”
He further detailed the defamatory statements, including claims that:
- Babalola and his law firm had “corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgment in the service of a client.”
- The firm had “compromised the Supreme Court and the remaining semblance of integrity it might have had when they went back to the Supreme Court and got the Court to swim in the sewer of corruption and shameful self-abnegation.”
Background of the Case
The defamatory allegations are linked to a Supreme Court judgment on a land dispute that spanned over two decades. Farotimi, in his book, reportedly criticized the role of Babalola and his firm in the legal proceedings, accusing them of undermining judicial integrity.
Legal Fallout
Farotimi’s detention has sparked debates over freedom of expression and the limits of critique within Nigeria’s legal and political systems. However, Babalola maintains that his action is a defense against falsehoods that threaten his professional reputation and that of his firm.
