Court grants Farotimi N50m bail

A lawyer and human rights advocate named Dele Farotimi was given N50 million bail by the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State. 

Omoyele Sowore, the African Action Congress's presidential candidate for the 2023 election, revealed the court's ruling on Monday through his X Twitter.

“The first hurdle was crossed. #DeleFarotimi was granted bail of N50 million surety in the like sum with someone with landed property. The case was adjourned to January 29, 2025,” the tweet read.

Farotimi's "farcical trial" will resume tomorrow (Tuesday) at the state capital's Magistrate Court, "over a non-existent offence in Ekiti law books," Sowore wrote in another tweet.

“We’ve asked the Attorney-General of Ekiti State to discontinue the trial immediately,” Sowore added.

Farotimi was arrested on 16 counts of criminal defamation, and the Ado-Ekiti magistrate court remanded him in prison custody on Wednesday, December 7, 2024. 

The trial of Farotimi follows his claimed defamation of Aare Afe Babalola, a prominent Senior Advocate of Nigeria and the founder of Afe Babalola University, in his recently released book, "Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System." 

In a November 19, 2024, petition to Adeniran Akinwale, the Commissioner of Police for Ekiti State, Babalola explained how his legal practice came upon Farotimi's book and stated that the charge was based on a Supreme Court ruling concerning a land dispute that lasted more than 20 years.

"He was accused of corrupting the Supreme Court from ages past and had led it to commit the most egregious acts of evil and wanting injustice," Babalola said of the book. Officers from the Lagos State Police Command captured Farotimi and took him to Ekiti for arraignment.

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