Human rights lawyer Dele Farotimi has threatened to sue those behind his arrest and detention over the halted defamation case between him and legal luminary Afe Babalola (SAN).
Police authorities had in December arrested Farotimi in Lagos and whisked him to Ekiti, where he was charged with defaming Babalola in his book ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System’.
An Ekiti Magistrate court remanded him for 21 days, but Babalola later withdrew the case, ending several weeks of legal tussle.
But those who thought the matter had ended may be in for another run of battle. This is because Farotimi has threatened to sue those behind his arrest and detention.
“Let me continue to reassert that I was always at peace. But when it comes to demanding an account of those who have perverted the powers of the state in pursuit of a private cause, you can be certain of one thing: some people will account for my incarceration, but that is not a matter for banter. That is something for the courts to decide,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“So even though the criminal suit has been withdrawn, the civil suits are there, and what I would like to do in response to my incarceration is another ball game entirely, but you can take it to the bank: I will certainly be demanding an account from those who sent me to prison,” he said.
When asked who he is suing over his detention, Farotimi said, “My lawyers will decide who is responsible, and they will then proceed to the court.
“Whether it’s the police that I have to be sued, whether it’s the magistrate who sent me to prison, whether it’s the persons who wrote the petition, whether it’s whoever, but somebody would explain,” the activist said on the show.
Babalola had withdrawn the case after the intervention of some traditional rulers from the South-West region. He said several prominent Nigerians, including ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, also sent him letters concerning the matter.
According to the senior advocate, he acquiesced to their pleas, which led him to withdraw the case.
However, Farotimi insists he did not ask anyone to intervene in the matter. The human rights lawyer said he was not consulted before the traditional rulers and others’ visit to Babalola.
