Human rights activist and lawyer Dele Farotimi has revealed that he is still dealing with four separate lawsuits filed in different states by members of the Aare Afe Babalola law firm. This disclosure came during his appearance on the Toyin Falola Interviews on Sunday.
Farotimi’s statement follows an earlier announcement by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, who, on January 27, agreed to withdraw criminal charges he had filed against Farotimi. The cases stemmed from allegations of defamation in Farotimi’s book, Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System.
The legal battle began after Babalola petitioned the police commissioner in Ekiti State, accusing Farotimi of defamation. This led to Farotimi’s arrest and his arraignment in two different courts in Ekiti—one at the Magistrate Court in Ado Ekiti District for alleged criminal defamation and another at the Federal High Court in Ado Ekiti for alleged cyberbullying.
However, following the intervention of top traditional rulers, including the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Babalola decided to withdraw the criminal charges against Farotimi. Despite this, Farotimi noted that civil suits filed by lawyers from Babalola’s firm are still ongoing in four different states.
“My inability to speak to certain aspects of this issue is borne out of the fact that, despite the discontinuation of the criminal proceeding, I still have four suits that I am aware of, in four different states of the federation, filed by members of the same law office, against my person,” he stated.
Farotimi defended the content of his book, insisting that it was a well-researched critique of Nigeria’s judicial system rather than an attack on any individual. “I did not sit down in a beer parlour; I was not at an officers’ mess; I was not gossiping. It was not idle, cheap talk. I wrote a book,” he declared.
Dismissing claims that the controversy surrounding his book is a personal issue, Farotimi noted that the real matter at hand is the state of the Nigerian legal system. “This is not a trial of Dele Farotimi. Let nobody make that error. It is a trial of the legal system that we have built as a collective,” he asserted.
He further noted that his book was written to expose systemic issues within the judiciary and not to target Afe Babalola personally. “Chief Afe Babalola is more than old enough to be my father,” he said. “I did not set out to destroy the man or to tarnish his image. Nothing personal. I was writing about the institution of the judiciary.”
According to Farotimi, Nigeria needs to confront uncomfortable truths if it hopes to see real change. “We have built a system that rewards deception and punishes truth. I am being sued not because I have lied, but because I have dared to speak the truth.”
He also criticized those who dismissed his book without reading it. “Ninety per cent of the persons criticizing me for whatever they believe my tactics to have been in writing the book have not read the book,” he argued.
