Court grants Farotimi bail in criminal defamation case, barred from granting media interviews
A Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, has granted bail to activist and lawyer Dele Farotimi having been detained for 16 days over charges of criminal defamation of Afe Babalola, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
Penpushing reports that the trial chief magistrate, Justice Abayomi Adeosun, granted the bail on Friday in the sum of N30 million, with additional condition that Farotimi should not grant any media interviews, as well as submitting his passport to the court registrar.
The police it is recalled after arrest of Farotimi , arraigned him at the court on December 4,2024 on 16 charges of defaming Babalola in his book, titled, ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’, the book which a court has now ordered to be removed from circulation.
Penpushing further reports that Farotimi in the book accused Babalola, a senior Nigerian lawyer and founder of Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), of corrupting the Nigerian Supreme Court in serving his clients.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria in reaction cited 31 alleged defamatory excerpts from the104-page book in his petition to the police, which, he said, was written to ruin his hard-earned reputation, but Farotimi denied all the charges during his arraignment.
Penpushing also reports that after his ruling granting bail to Farotimi, the court adjourned further proceedings till February 13, 2025.
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