Aare Afe Babalola (SAN)’s withdrawal of the criminal defamation cases he filed against human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi, was at the instance of former Nigerian leader, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a reliable source has revealed.
Farotimi was charged after Chief Babalola petitioned the police, accusing Farotimi of defaming him in his book, ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System.’ Babalola cited in his petition 31 excerpts from the book, which he alleged defamed him. In the Amazon best-seller book, Farotimi accuses Babalola, the founder of the Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti, of corrupting Nigeria’s Supreme Court in service of his clients.
Subsequently, the police arrested and charged Farotimi with 16 counts of criminal defamation, leading to his arraignment before the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ado Ekiti. In addition, he faced 12 counts of cybercrimes at the Federal High Court in Ado Ekiti. Farotimi, who pleaded not guilty to all charges in both courts, was remanded in prison in Ado-Ekiti following his arraignment.
Meanwhile, Chief Babalola announced that he had forgiven Farotimi after intervention of respected Yoruba traditional rulers, including the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, during a midnight meeting at Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD). at the meeting, Chief Babalola agreed to instruct his lawyers to withdraw the case.
The source said that, notwithstanding Chief Babalola’s statement that Chief Obasanjo had begged him and he didn’t agree, Chief Obasanjo actually initiated the reconciliation process and the subsequent visit of the traditional rulers to the legal icon’s home.
“It’s true Chief Obasanjo met him (Babalola) but they didn’t want it to look like Obasanjo brokered the truce because both Farotimi and Babalola are his close allies. Babalola has been Obasanjo’s lawyer for decades while Farotimi is like his eye in the Peter Obi, Labour Party presidential project,” the source claimed.
The source added that the Ooni of Ife who led other traditional rulers to Afe Babalola was the perfect choice for the mission “because you can count Ooni as an Obasanjo man”.
Speaking further, the source said that the Obasanjo men feared that a prolonged war at this time between Farotimi and Chief Babalola could jeopardize the Peter Obi presidency project since both personalities are members and sympathizers of the ‘Obidients’ group respectively.
Farotimi, who spent 21 days in captivity following his arrest over the petition, has refused to comment publicly since the peace-finding meeting by the traditional rulers.
-Rahman Is’mail