Afenifere joins calls for police to stop prosecuting Farotimi whose “rights must be protected”
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Afenifere has urged the police to stop the prosecution of human rights lawyer Dele Farotimi for alleged defamation of Afe Babalola, SAN because defamation is not on the statues of Lagos, where the activist allegedly committed the offence, nor on thse of Ekiti, where Babalola lives.
Farotimi, who is being prosecuted in two courts in Ado-Ekiti – a Magistrate’s Court and a High Court – has been remanded in prison by the lower court since his ordeal began earlier this month, pending ruling on his bail application on December 20.
The police have also arrayed two other judicial processes against him, at the High Court in Abuja and Ibadan, over what many lawyers argue is not a criminal case allegedly fished out from Farotimi’s recent book Nigeria And Its Criminal Justice System in which he alleged that Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court.
Joining its voice, Afenifere reiterated that the charge preferred against Farotimi is not known to the laws of Ekiti.
Afenifere led by Ayo Adebanjo said though it is not against trying him in court, he should be presumed innocent until otherwise proven in a law court with competent jurisdiction.
Adebanjo insisted the accused should not be treated as a criminal when he still stands innocent in the face of the law.
Afenifere Deputy Leader Oladipo Olaitan criticised Ekiti Chief Magistrate Abayomi Adeosun for denying Farotimi bail, saying it is clear the police are out to deny him his right to free speech and movement.
“It is noteworthy that before the resumed hearing of December 10, a notice of preliminary objection had been filed by Farotimi’s lawyers, pointing out that the offences preferred against Farotimi do not exist in the laws of Ekiti State,” Olaitan said, per reporting by The Nation.
“The court willfully or unwittingly failed to take notice of this critical objection and went on to further remand the accused until an adjourned date of December 20.
“It is clearly an act to constructively incarcerate an innocent person accused of an offence [not] recognisable in law.
“The delay in granting bail to Mr. Farotimi has confirmed the fears of well-meaning people all over the world that these processes are driven by extraneous considerations outside the facts and laws in respect of the petition on which the police and the chief magistrate in Ekiti are hinging their actions.
“Even as the burden of proof of the charge against Mr. Farotimi is on the prosecution and as the accused person is presumed innocent by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Afenifere charges the police to redeem their integrity by promptly terminating their prosecution of a matter for which the law does not empower them.
“Afenifere calls for the immediate unconditional release of Mr. Farotimi and for the investigation of the circumstances surrounding his abduction and travails in the hands of his abductors.
“Afenifere believes that Chief Afe Babalola, like every citizen, has a right to defend his reputation, if injured to the full extent of the law, but not outside the strictures of the law.
“Therefore, Dele Farotimi must have his day in court. He cannot be unjustly incarcerated. His rights must be similarly protected.”
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