FENRAD calls for fairness in Afe Babalola, Dele Farotimi case

Stanley Ihedigbo

Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development (FENRAD), urged for fairness between the alleged case of defamation being pursued by Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, a venerable legal guru and icon, against Dele Farotimi, a lawyer and social critic, following the latter’s recently published book titled Nigeria and its Corrupt Justice System and other materials released online.

According to the Executive Director of the group, Comrade Nelson Nnanna Nwafor, the Foundation has harvested tonnes of content, online and print, from both parties and demands only justice in the said matter.

However certain areas raised concern in the whole affair, which, if not addressed, would set a bad precedent in our case and common law system.

Granted, Dele Farotimi, who alleged in his book that Afe Babalola ‘influenced the Supreme Court’ to get justice for his clients, has a case to prove before the courts, as ‘he who asserts must prove’, but what is worrisome for the Foundation is the subject of jurisdiction.

The matter, for emphasis, was about land, 254 hectares in size, located at Osapa Eti-Osa LGA of Lagos State, to which dispute Dele Farotimi and Afe Babalola became parties somehow.

Dele Farotimi had written a book detailing how Afe Babalola, SAN, had ‘denied’ him justice at the Supreme Court using his connection, wealth, and power as a swayful lawyer. It was the said book, which was obtained and read somewhere in Lagos State by someone close to the Afe Babalola’s chambers, that led to the ‘abduction’ and trial of Dele Farotimi, who before now had maintained that he was being framed up by Ekiti State court and police over his publication.

Afe Babalola who now seeks to establish defamation against his person, law firm, and lawyers in his employ,oy must prove that he had, together with the mentioned parties, suffered injury following the publication, sa,le and circulation of the book Nigeria and its Corrupt Justice System based on the law.

That the police seem to be doing the bidding of Afe Babalola, as exhibited in the arrest and prosecution of Dele Farotimi, is suspect and portrays a picture of Nigeria’s weak justice system, the same theme Dele Farotimi’s book explores and x-rays.

Jurisdiction, to the understanding of the Foundation, has been utterly neglected. One, the land at issue is located in Lagos and involves a case against the Lagos State Government over acquisition.

Two, Dele Farotimi lives and works in Lagos where the matter involving him and Afe Babalola’s chambers happened. Third, the book was independently published and made available in Lagos, where it was obtained and read by the person who alerted Afe Babalola’s law firm to perceived defamatory content. So, considering all these, why arrest Dele and have him transferred to another jurisdiction for trial?

The Criminal Law of Lagos, 2011 decriminalised defamation by not contemplating it in all its provisions, meaning that within the jurisdiction of the alleged crime, Dele Farotimi has no case.

Cases have been determined in the past based on this simple principle. Again, the Nigerian Bar Association, rights-focused civil society groups, publicists, legal gurus, and all manner of persons have weighed in and established the same fact.

Taking Dele to Ekiti where the alleged crime did not take place to try him using the criminal code (sections 273, 274, & 275) as cited in the petition and prayers of Afe Babalola (obtained by the Foundation from the Vanguard newspaper of Friday 6, 2024) is suspect because Dele Farotimi was not arrested in Ekiti but in the same Lagos State where defamation is no crime.

It looks even more suspect that a magistrate court in Ekiti, which does not enjoy unlimited jurisdiction based on Nigerian laws, is the same trying a matter that happened in Lagos, a place farther than and outside of its jurisdiction. Based on the foregoing analysis, the Foundation senses a travesty of justice and calls for the unconditional release of Dele Farotimi who has been denied oral bail in a matter that has not been established as a criminal or civil case by the court.

Having seen the four-page charge sheet prepared by the police, one is left wondering whether the police are acting based on the principle of justice.

More so, it is disturbing that Dele Farotimi, who claimed not to have been officially served at the time he spoke about his likely arrest, also revealed that a bench warrant (for his arrest) had already been manufactured, likely to be issued under the pretext that he failed to answer summonses from an Ekiti-based court, is now being prosecuted by the police for failing to appear before the court.

The Foundation is of the view that Dele be allowed to prove his case in court; after all, he wrote the said book and must have his sources, even supporting documents, to back his claims. We live in Nigeria where citizens do not repose confidence in the courts, and it cannot be wished away that there exists a loss of public confidence in the judiciary, the supposed last hope of the common man, this is the challenge before the court today.

While the Foundation is aware of the status – both nationally and internationally – Afe Babalola enjoys based on his contributions to Nigeria’s and global jurisprudence as a legal icon who looms large within the Nigerian legal system and her academia, it maintains that the iconic nonagenarian is still subject to Nigerian laws and that these laws must not be bent or twisted to serve his interest.

The Foundation believes this is one test both the Nigerian judiciary and the Nigeria Police Force must not fail.