Barely a week after Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Chief Afe Babalola withdrew his legal cases against lawyer and activist Dele Farotimi, concerns are mounting over other pending lawsuits filed against the outspoken rights advocate.
Despite the withdrawal of Babalola’s petition, which led to Farotimi’s arrest and multiple cybercrime and defamation charges, several legal battles remain unresolved. Other lawyers from Babalola’s law firm, Afe Babalola & Co, have instituted cases demanding over N1 billion in damages.
On December 6, 2024, SAN Kehinde Ogunwumiju sued Farotimi for alleged defamatory remarks in his book Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System. He is seeking N500 million in damages and has asked the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja to halt the book’s sale in both physical and online stores. Ogunwumiju also requested a court order to seize all copies of the book and demanded a public apology in two national newspapers.
Similarly, on December 11, 2024, another lawyer from Babalola’s firm, Ola Faro, filed a separate defamation suit at the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt. Faro claimed that Farotimi’s book contained statements accusing him, Babalola, and the law firm of compromising the integrity of the Supreme Court. He is demanding N500 million in damages for defamation and an additional N100 million for book distribution.
Meanwhile, following interventions from the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and other traditional rulers, the police prosecutor, Samson Osobu, last Wednesday applied to withdraw the cybercrime charges against Farotimi at the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti. However, a separate criminal defamation case before a chief magistrate’s court in Ado-Ekiti, scheduled for February 13, remains unresolved.
Farotimi was arrested in Lagos on December 3, 2024, after a warrant was issued by the Ekiti State Police Command. The command’s spokesperson, DSP Abutu Sunday, confirmed the arrest, stating that all previous attempts to bring Farotimi in for questioning had failed.