Detained rights activist, Mr. Dele Farotimi, has been slammed with a fresh 12-count charge bordering on alleged false information to cause a breakdown of law and order.
This comes as lawyers to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Afe Babalola, urged Farotimi to prove his allegations against a legal luminary.
The charge filed at the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti, by the Inspector General of Police was brought under Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended.
Farotimi is currently on remand at a Correctional Centre in Ado Ekiti on the orders of an Ado Ekiti Magistrate Court, pending the ruling in his bail application on December 10.
The Magistrate Court had on Wednesday ordered the remand of the rights activist, shortly after he was arraigned by the police on a 16-count charge bordering on criminal defamation.
He however pleaded not guilty to the 16-count charges.
In the fresh charge dated and filed December 6, Farotimi was alleged to have violated the Cybercrimes laws, when he on August 28, 2024 knowingly and intentionally transmitted a false communication in an online interview on Mic On Podcast by Seun Okinbaloye on his YouTube Channel in respect of a book he authored and published with the titled: ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’.
According to the charge, Farotimi was alleged to have in the said broadcast interview claimed that, “Aare Afe Babalola corrupted the judiciary”, a claim which he knew to be false information and made for the purpose of causing breakdown of law and order thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 24(1) (b) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended.
In count two, the defendant was said to have made the allegation “with the intention of bullying and harassing the named persons thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 24 (a) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended.”
In another charge, Farotimi was alleged to have on December 2, 2024, acknowledged that there was a charge preferred before a court in Ekiti State against him at the instance of Chief Afe Babalola.
“This preferred, hidden from view and the court had purportedly demanded my presence multiple times and failed to appear before the court and this Court had then proceeded to issue bench warrant for my arrest. This is classic Afe Babalola, I detailed his corruptive influence in my book titled: ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’ which you know to contain false information for the purpose of causing breakdown of law and order thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 24(1) (b) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended,” the charge read in part.
In count four, Farotimi was said to have described the charge in his online broadcast as “fraudulently preferred, hidden from view and the court had purportedly demanded my presence multiple times and I failed to appear before the court and this court had then proceeded to issue bench warrant for my arrest.”
The police further accused the defendant of bullying and harassing Babalola and other named persons when through his online broadcast alleged that after he sued Babalola for libel, “the machines of corruption went into overdrive and a case that should never have been killed at the preliminary stage was killed”.
Count 10 reads: That you Dele Farotimi on December 2, 2024 intentionally sent a message in the course of a press conference held on Online on your YouTube Channel, where you stated that: “I told the truth of his corruption of the society” which you know to contain false information for the purpose of causing breakdown of law and order thereby committed an offence Contrary to and punishable under Section 24(1) (b) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended.
Count 11: That you Dele Farotimi on December 2, 2024 intentionally sent a message in the course of a press conference held on Online on your YouTube Channel where you stated that: “I told the truth of his corruption of the society” with the -intention of bullying and harassing the named persons thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 24 (a) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended.
Count 12: That you Dele Farotimi on December 2, 2024 intentionally sent a message in the course of a press conference held on Online on your Youtube Channel, in reference to a book authored and published by you titled: “Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System” where you stated in the Press Conference that:
“Aare Afe Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure 3 fraudulent judgement in the service of his clients” which you know to contain false information for the purpose of causing breakdown of law and order thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 24(1) (b)’ of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended.”
Meanwhile, Babalola’s lawyers – Owoseni Ajayi, Olakanmi Falade and Lawrence Fasanmi, while addressing the media in Ado-Ekiti, stressed that charging the activist to court by the law enforcement agency was for the law to take its due cause on the matter.
Ajayi, said that the press conference was to correct the misleading publications about the ongoing matter between the Nigerian Police and Farotimi over defaming Babalola.
“Is it wrong for Aare Afe Babalola to seek justice for these false utterances against him? Should justice only be available to Mr Dele Farotimi because Aare Afe Babalola is a global icon?
“Once Mr Dele Farotimi can show proof that his assertions in the book are true, then he will be free. The law allows free speech, but not one that is calculated to injure the good reputation of another,” he added.
“The book being distributed and accessed in Ekiti, so long as defamation is a crime in Ekiti, this has established criminal liability within Ekiti, placing it under the investigatory jurisdiction of the police and the jurisdiction of the Ekiti State High Court, given the cross-state nature of the alleged crime.
“For the uninformed saying the court denied him bail, there was nothing like that. There is nothing special in the case of Dele Farotimi in that the court cannot ask his lawyers to make their bail application formal.
“Those pushing Farotimi are not his friends. By the time they lead him to the dungeon, he would realise they were deceiving him. Let me advise his family members to apologise to Aare. Aare Babalola is a builder, not interested in destroying Farotimi,” he added.
Alex Enumah
