Activist and lawyer, Dele Farotimi, on Sunday, disclosed that he was still facing four separate lawsuits in different states, all filed by members of Aare Afe Babalola’s law office. Farotimi made this revelation during an appearance on the Toyin Falola Interviews.
This disclosure follows the earlier announcement on January 27, 2025, when Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), the founder of Afe Babalola University in Ado Ekiti, agreed to withdraw the cases filed against Farotimi. The legal battle began after Babalola filed a petition to the police commissioner in Ekiti State, accusing Farotimi of defamation in his book titled Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System. This led to Farotimi’s arrest by the police and his arraignment before two courts in Ekiti State.
Farotimi stood trial on charges of criminal defamation in the Ekiti State Magistrate Court, Ado Ekiti District, and for cyberbullying in the Ado Ekiti Division of the Federal High Court. However, following the intervention of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and other prominent traditional rulers, Babalola announced the withdrawal of the charges.
Despite the withdrawal of criminal charges, Farotimi revealed that he was still facing four separate civil suits, all filed in different states by members of the same law office. “My inability to speak to certain aspects of this issue is borne out of the fact that, despite the discontinuation of the criminal proceedings, I still have four suits that I am aware of, in four different states of the federation, filed by members of the same law office, against my person,” Farotimi stated.
Farotimi emphasized that his book was a well-researched work, not born out of idle talk or baseless accusations. He clarified that he did not write the book in a casual manner, asserting, “I did not sit down in a beer parlour; I was not at an officers’ mess; I was not gossiping. It was not idle, cheap talk. I wrote a book.” He challenged anyone to read his book and prove that he had lied.
He dismissed claims that the controversy surrounding the book was a personal battle, stating that the true issue at hand was the state of the Nigerian legal system. “This is not a trial of Dele Farotimi. Let nobody make that error. It is a trial of the legal system that we have built as a collective,” he declared. Farotimi stressed that the book was not intended as an attack on individuals, especially Afe Babalola, but as a critique of systemic corruption within the judiciary.
“I did not set out to destroy the man or to tarnish his image. Nothing personal. I was writing about the institution of the judiciary,” Farotimi explained, noting that the book mentioned names and offices but aimed to critique institutional failings rather than defame individuals. He added, “I simply told the truth of what I saw. All I did was write a book. Maybe we have become too accustomed to lies and allergic to truth, to the point where telling the truth has become a sin.”
Farotimi argued that Nigeria must confront uncomfortable truths in order to experience meaningful reform. He criticized the Nigerian system for rewarding deception and punishing truth, stating, “I am being sued not because I have lied, but because I have dared to speak the truth.”
In addition, Farotimi lashed out at critics who had dismissed his book without reading it, accusing them of intellectual laziness. He stated, “Ninety percent of the persons criticizing me for whatever they believe my tactics to have been in writing the book have not read the book.” He called on Nigerians to engage with the truth, urging them to read the book before making judgments. “If Nigerians would stop being so philistinic and illiterate, if they would dare to read, there would be no arguments as to the proof of what I have written,” he concluded.