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•Says he should be remorseful or face the consequences in court
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Legal icon and founder of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola, SAN has revealed that the remanded human rights lawyer and activist, Dele Farotimi deliberately maligned and defamed him in his book after failing to secure a favourable judgement for his client in a land dispute case.
The renowned legal icon who expressed worry over the reactions of respected individuals and the public on the issue explained that his decision to petition the police was to clear the reputation and name he has built in the legal profession in the last sixty years.
Farotimi who had since been remanded in prison custody by an Ado Ekiti Chief Magistrate court was arrested last Tuesday in Lagos by operatives of the state police command over allegations of defamation against him.
He was accused of defaming a renowned lawyer and founder of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) Aare Afe Babalola, SAN in his book titled, ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’ where he alleged that Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgement in the service of his clients.
Babalola addressed newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital on Friday through his legal team comprising three former chairmen of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ado-Ekiti branch, Owoseni Ajayi, Olakanmi Falade and Lawrence Fasanmi.
Ajayi, who is a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, noted that Farotimi being a lawyer ought to know that putting such allegations against the elder statesman and the judiciary would have grave consequences.
He added that reading through his 104-page book, Farotimi was angered over the decision of the supreme court in a land dispute case in 1989 involving the Ojomu family and Murtila Gbadamosi Eletu family in Lagos.
He said, “The Ojomu family sold 254 hectares of land at Osapa Eti-Osa Local Government Lagos to the late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu in 1977. The said parcel of land was subsequently acquired by Lagos State Government in 1989. The Ojomu family contested the acquisition against the Lagos State Government in Suit No: ID/1883/89 wherein the court set aside the acquisition by the Lagos State Government.
“The Ojomu family then instituted the suit at the High Court of Lagos State claiming that title to the land had reverted to the Ojomu family despite the earlier sale of the land to late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu.
“The Gbadamosi Eletu family lost the case at the High Court and the Court of Appeal before briefing Aare Afe’s Chambers to represent them at the Supreme Court. Judgement was delivered by the Supreme Court on 13/7/2013 in favour of the Eletu family. By this judgement, the Supreme Court recognised the sale of land to the Gbadamosi Eletu family.
“You will recall that 254 hectares were sold to the Gbadamosi Eletu family. However, instead of the 254 hectares, Honourable Justice Kumai Bayang AKA’ AHS JSC, who wrote the lead judgement, recorded 10 hectares in error.
“Upon the delivery of the Judgement, the Gbadamosi Eletu family surreptitiously employed the services of SB Joseph & Co to enforce the judgement before Afe Babalola Chambers applied for a variation of the judgement. This was presumed to be because the Gbadamosi Eletu family wanted to avoid paying Aare Afe Babalola’s chambers its professional fees.
“However, in 2014, the Gbadamosi Eletu family came back to Aare Afe Babalola’s Chambers. Immediately, Lawyers from Aare Afe Babalola’s chambers filed a motion for variation of the judgement of the Supreme Court pursuant to Order 8 Rule 16 of the Rules of the Supreme Court, which allows application to be brought to correct clerical errors. The said motion was heard and ruling delivered on 18/3/2014 granting the statutory right of occupancy to the Gbadamosi Eletu family with respect to the entire 254 hectares sold to the late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu by the Ojomu family.
“Several residential estates were affected by the judgement of the Supreme Court among which were Pinnock Estate, Beach Resort, NICON Estate, Friends’ Colony Estate and Victory Park Estate etc. Mr. Dele Farotimi was a lawyer for one of these Estates.
“The affected estates and individuals immediately filed fresh suits against the Eletu family with the purpose of frustrating the judgement of the Supreme Court. The Eletu family was lured by the affected estates to settle some of the suits behind Afe Babalola’s chambers despite being counsel on record. They filed terms of settlement with the court without the knowledge of Afe Babalola’s chambers.
“Clearly, all these assertions by Dele Farotimi in his said book run foul of Section 59 of the CRIMINAL CODE ACT which talks about “Publication of false news with intent to cause fear and alarm in the public.
“After listening to Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, reading the Supreme Court Judgement and reading Mr Dele Farotimi’s book, my deduction from all these is that Mr Dele Farotimi wrote this book titled ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’ not because any injustice has been done to him, not because the Supreme Court is corrupt, but because he could not get a judgement for his client in court.
“In the light of the events that transpired, it is against every good conscience and moral ethics to say this much about people without verifiable facts and proof. Aare Afe Babalola is a global man. His reputation was not built on mere existence but on many years of hard work and diligent toil. He came from poverty and had no inheritance to set him up in life. He worked tirelessly to be where he is today.”
On those criticising Babalola for his decision to pursue the case in court, the lead counsel said, “ Is it wrong for Are 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 prove that his assertions in the book are true, then he will be free. Until then, the law allows free speech, but not one that is calculated to injure the good reputation of another.
“All facts are verifiable. I urge Nigerians to verify and find out what the truth is first before picking a side.”
Speaking on the controversies relating to whether defamation is criminal or civil under Nigeria law, Ajayi said, “ I would like to observe that the position of the NBA President on this matter is outrightly misleading. The case of Aviomoh v C.O.P. (2022) NWLR (pt. 1819) 69 is in fact an authority that defamation is both a tort and a crime. In the wisdom of the Ogunwumiju JSC, he stated on page 116 particularly in paragraph A as follows:
“My Lords, I need to re-emphasize that defamation is both a tort and a crime.
“The learned Justice of the Apex Court further stated that when the wrong occasioned by defamation cannot be adequately remedied by a civil action with the award of damages, the same can be prosecuted under criminal law.
“The content of the book ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’ contains defamatory remarks which appear to be aimed at tarnishing the reputation of Aare Afe Babalola, a preeminent legal luminary and the patriarch of Nigerian legal practice.
“These defamatory remarks made in the book cannot be remedied by the award of damages.
“The book is 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. (Njovens v The State).”
He advised family members and associates of Farotimi to show remorse by apologizing and retracting his allegations in the published book in order to avoid the full wrath of the law which he said could be detrimental to his legal career.
According to him, “ Let us advise Dele Farotimi’s immediate family members not to listen to the ranting on social media, but impress it on him to be remorseful and apologize for what he done in writing, otherwise he will need to provide clear evidence to back his allegations or be ready to face the consequences.
“Those people on social media pushing him on social media are not his friends, they are pushing him to the dungeon because they don’t know the gravity of what he has done.”
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