Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has decried the detention of human rights lawyer and advocate, Dele Farotimi, saying he is languishing in prison for speaking truth to power.
Farotimi is being prosecuted before a chief magistrate’s court in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State for allegedly defaming a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Afe Babalola.
In a post on X to commemorate the International Human Rights Day, Abubakar said the lawyer’s arrest is a glaring example of the pervasive climate of impunity and rights violations in the country.
“Dele Farotimi now languishes in prison custody not for any crime but for the supposed ‘crime’ of persistently speaking truth to power,” the statement read.
“His only offense lies in his unflinching commitment to exposing the truths that the government and its collaborators would rather remain hidden,” Atiku stated.
He faulted the circumstances surrounding Farotimi’s incarceration, stressing that Farotimi is being prosecuted under a cyberbullying law that does not exist in Ekiti State.
To Atiku, the situation is a grave injustice and a violation of constitutional rights.
The former vice president also raised concerns about the misuse of the cyberbullying law, which he said has been weaponised to target dissenting voices, including those in the opposition and the press.