Nigerians are concerned about the status of other pending lawsuits against lawyer and rights activist Mr. Dele Farotimi, just a week after a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Chief Afe Babalola, withdrew his cases against him.

This is because, according to Babalola’s petition, the police arrested Farotimi and charged him with 12 counts of cybercrime offences and 16 counts of criminal defamation.

Other lawyers filed lawsuits against the activist, claiming over N1 billion in damages. On December 6, 2024, a SAN, Mr. Kehinde Ogunwumiju, sued Farotimi for allegedly making defamatory statements in his book, “Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System.”

Afe Babalola & Co.’s managing partner requested N500 million in damages and urged the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court in Abuja to stop the book’s publication and sale in physical and online bookstores.

Ogunwumiju pleaded with the court for an order to seize copies of the book wherever they might be found and emphasized that Farotimi must apologize to him in two national newspapers.

On December 11, 2024, less than five days after Ogunwumiju’s suit, Mr. Ola Faro petitioned the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt, claiming that the rights activist had also defamed him in the book.

In order to support his accusation, Faro pointed out particular passages in the book that claimed Babalola, his legal practice, Afe Babalola & Co., had undermined the Supreme Court’s credibility. Faro claims that the claims are untrue and were written specifically to damage his reputation.

Faro asked for N100 million in damages for disseminating the book, but he also claimed N500 million for unlawful defamation against Farotimi.

At the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, last Wednesday, police prosecutor Samson Osobu requested the dismissal of the cybercrime charges after the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and a few other traditional leaders intervened in the conflict between Babalola and Farotimi.

As of the time this report, the case that was set for February 13 in relation to the other criminal accusation that the police brought against Farotimi before a chief magistrate’s court in Ado-Ekiti had not been withdrawn.

It was reported on December 3, 2024, that Farotimi had been taken into custody by the police in Lagos.

Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Ekiti State Police Command, DSP Abutu Sunday, confirmed his arrest and said, “The command wishes to inform members of the public that one Mr Dele Farotimi is currently undergoing investigation following a petition written against him to the Office of the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, for an allegation of defamation of character and cyberbullying. He was arrested today in Lagos with a warrant after all means deployed by the command to bring him for interrogation proved abortive.”