Afe Babalola Justifies Suit Against Farotimi
The founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), on Thursday, defended his suit against human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi.
The legal luminary also dismissed insinuations that he was using his clout to deal with Farotimi.
Osun Defender reports that Farotimi was arrested on Tuesday in Lagos by Police officers from Ekiti State and subsequently arraigned on Wednesday and remanded by an Ekiti State Magistrates Court.
He was alleged to have defamed Babalola in a book he published.
Afe Babalola’s lawyer, Owoseni Ajayi, in a chat with a journalist in Ado Ekiti, waved off the rumoured influence in the matter, saying, “We cannot deal with him against the law.”
“That is not naturally possible, otherwise, we would not have reported him to the police for due process to take place. Immediately he was arrested by the police, he was arraigned in court.”
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Ajayi, a former Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General in Ekiti State, dismissed insinuations that Farotimi was arrested arbitrarily, saying, “The people who are commenting on the matter do not know what he wrote, they are saying he was arbitrarily arrested, but he was not arbitrarily arrested.
“Why is anybody saying influence was being used on him – don’t they want him to defend himself? All the lies that he published in a book and circulated – is that using influence to ask him to defend himself in the law court?
“Are they saying that somebody who was defamed should accept it like that so that people would not accuse him of using influence? There is nothing like using influence or clout here.
“Farotimi is a lawyer, but he was castigating the Supreme Court, describing it as a haven of corruption without any shred of evidence. If he should be dealt with according to the law, is that using influence?
He added, “Are those who are talking about the matter, describing Farotimi as an activist, saying he should be defaming people because he is an activist with the hope of gaining popularity?”
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
