Tope Temokun, one of the lawyers representing human rights activist and legal practitioner Dele Farotimi, clarified that his client did not send Peter Obi to request an out-of-court settlement with octogenarian legal icon Afe Babalola in the ongoing defamation suit between Farotimi and Babalola.
Temokun made the statement during his appearance on the Sunday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political program aired on Channels Television.
Earlier in December, the police in Ekiti State arrested Farotimi at his Lagos office and transported him to Ekiti for prosecution.
Farotimi was arraigned for allegedly publishing a book, Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System, in which he accused Afe Babalola of corrupting the judiciary and securing a revised judgment in the Supreme Court.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to all charges and has been remanded in prison for two weeks as legal proceedings continue in multiple courts. Farotimi also faces similar charges in Abuja and Oyo State.
Temokun, who visited Farotimi in prison on Friday, revealed that the author denied sending Obi to appeal to Babalola or pursue a settlement outside of court.
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He said, “I visited Mr Dele Farotimi in a correctional service in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State yesterday afternoon.
“The events of the recent days; the visit of Mr Peter Obi, the (2023) presidential candidate of the Labour Party to Aare Afe Babalola, his visit to Mr Dele Farotimi, created some lack of clarity, people are not so clear about some things, people are not clear about what is going on. It is on the basis of this that I had to visit him yesterday, and we sat together and had a good discussion.
“After Peter Obi left Ekiti, the news that filtered the town to the issue of the conditions for release, the issue of apology, the issue of whether Mr Dele Farotimi is able to do this or that to come out.
“I told him (Farotimi): the reason why I am here is to confirm from you ‘What do you think should be done?’ The visit of Mr Peter Obi to you in person and the subsequent visit to Aare Afe Babalola, what do you know about it? What is your message to Aare Afe Babalola? What is your message to the people outside? What is also your message to me as part of your legal team?
“He (Farotimi) said if anybody who is very familiar with his antecedents, with his principles, with his philosophy overtime should join anybody to believe that in a matter where he had written a book that he had published and that had been in circulation, that if anybody, somebody who has a brain should join others to believe that he has sent anybody to beg anybody, he said he will be so disappointed in that person.
“He told me categorically that even you Tope if you join anybody to believe that I could beg anybody or that I have sent anybody to beg anybody, I will be so disappointed in you.”
Temokun stated that Farotimi is in high spirits and remains confident that he will overcome his challengers in the various courts.
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