Activist and lawyer, Dele Farotimi, revealed on Sunday that he is still facing four separate civil suits in various states, filed by members of the Aare Afe Babalola law office.
He made this disclosure during an appearance on the Toyin Falola Interviews.
Farotimi’s statement follows the January 27 announcement by Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), the Founder of Afe Babalola University in Ado Ekiti, that he would withdraw the cases against Farotimi.
This came after Babalola had filed a defamation complaint with the police, accusing Farotimi of defaming him in his book ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System.’
Following the complaint, Farotimi was arrested and arraigned before two courts in Ekiti. He faced charges of criminal defamation in the Ekiti State Magistrate Court, Ado Ekiti District, and was also charged with cyber-bullying in the Ado Ekiti Division of the Federal High Court.
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Babalola had later announced the withdrawal of the case, citing the intervention of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and other prominent traditional rulers.
However, during the interview on Sunday, Farotimi shared that while the police had dropped the criminal charges after Babalola’s petition was withdrawn, he is still dealing with four civil suits filed against him by Babalola’s legal team in different states.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 revealed.
Farotimi stressed that his book was not a product of idle speculation or unfounded allegations, but a carefully researched work that reflects his personal experiences and insights into the Nigerian judicial system.
“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. “Let us deal with veracity. Anybody can go and read and then come back and challenge me with the lie that I have told.”
Rejecting the notion that the controversy over his book is a personal feud, Farotimi asserted that the true focus of the trial is not his reputation, but the Nigerian legal system as a whole.
“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 reiterated that his book, ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System,’ is not aimed at individuals, especially legal expert Chief Afe Babalola, but rather serves as a critique of the systemic corruption within the judiciary.
He emphasized that the work was written with the intent of seeking justice, not pursuing personal grievances.
“Chief Afe Babalola is more than old enough to be my father,” Farotimi 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.”
Speaking out, Farotimi maintained that his critique was directed at the failures of the institution, not at individuals.
“Multiple names were mentioned in the book, and offices were mentioned. I did not set out to libel anybody,” he explained. “I simply told the truth of what I saw. All I did was write a book. Maybe we have become too accustomed to lies and allergic to truth, to the point where telling the truth has become a sin.”
He stated that for Nigeria to undergo meaningful reform, Nigerians must confront uncomfortable truths. “We have created a system that rewards deception and punishes honesty.
I am being sued not for lying, but for daring to speak the truth.” Farotimi also criticized those who dismissed his book without reading it, calling their behavior intellectually lazy.
“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. “If Nigerians would stop being so philistinic and illiterate, if they would dare to read, there would be no arguments as to the proof of what I have written.”
