The Federal High Court in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, granted bail on Monday to activist and lawyer Dele Farotimi following his arraignment on cybercrime charges which stemmed from alleged defamation of senior lawyer Afe Babalola.
The judge, Babs Kuewumi, granted bail to Mr Farotimi in the sum of N50 million and adjourned the trial till 29 January 2025. Mr Farotimi will however remain in detention pending when he meets the bail conditions.
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Mr Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and founder of Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), had petitioned the police in the state alleging that Mr Farotimi defamed in his book, ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’.
Mr Babalola’s petition led to the police filing criminal defamation charges against Mr Farotimi, culminating in his arraignment at a chief magistrate’s court in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday. During the proceedings, Mr Farotimi denied the charges. The trial magistrate subsequently ordered his remand in prison and scheduled the hearing of his bail application for Tuesday, 10 December.
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On Friday, the office of the Inspector General of Police filed a fresh case comprising 12 counts of cybercrimes arising from the defamation allegations against Mr Farotimi at the Federal High Court in Ado Ekiti.
Prison officials produced Mr Farotimi in handcuffs for arraignment before the court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to all 12 counts of cybercrime.
Bail
The defence team subsequently applied for his bail, which the prosecution opposed.
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Ruling on the application, the trial judge, Mr Kuewumi, disagreed with the prosecutor, Samson Osubu, who argued against Mr Farotimi’s bail application.
The judge then proceeded to grant bail to the defendant in the sum of N50 million with a surety resident in Ekiti.
He also ruled that the surety must have “a landed property within the jurisdiction of the court”, while also ordering that the defendant must submit his passport to the court.
He adjourned the case till 29 January 2025 for trial.
Defence speaks
One of Mr Farotimi’s lawyers, Ralph Nwoke, commended the court for granting the defendant bail, adding that the team would do everything possible to perfect the bail conditions towards ensuring his release.
Mr Nwoke, who is the managing partner DL Legal, told journalists that charges filed on the defence by the prosecuting team earlier on Monday were different from those filed on Friday.
“We got the hint this morning (Monday) that they were bringing Dele Farotimi to the court this morning and we were already in Ado-Ekiti. We immediately rushed down to the court.
“They served us a new charge in court that was filed this morning, substituting the one that was filed on Friday last week.
“Our team moved an oral bail application and he was granted bail.
“He was granted a bail of N50 million and surety in like sum, which must be resident in Ekiti state with a landed property, including the travel passport of the defendant should be submitted at the court.
“Our client has been taken to the custodian centre, while we are working on perfecting these conditions to get him out hopefully any moment from now,” Tribune newspaper quoted the lawyer as saying.
The defence team anticipates that the criminal defamation suit before the chief magistrate’s court would be withdrawn in light of the Federal High Court trial.
“I don’t expect the Magistrate court matter to go on, this should override it, because this is a higher court.
” Let’s see what the prosecution team will do but we will be here to do our job,” Mr Nwoke said.
Charges
The police first charged Mr Farotimi with 16 counts of criminal defamation of Mr Babalola before a chief magistrate’s court in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State.
The case stemmed from a petition by Mr Babalola alleging that Mr Farotimi defamed him in his book, ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’.
Mr Babalola cited 31 excerpts from the book, including one accusing him of corrupting the Nigerian Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgement in the service of his clients.
The office of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), through, S.O Osobi, filed 12 counts of cybercrimes against Mr Farotimi at the Federal High Court in Ado Ekiti, on Friday.
READ ALSO: The way forward for Dele Farotimi, By Kenneth Ikonne
The new charges largely focus on Mr Farotimi’s comments in online interviews reiterating allegations made in his book, whereas the case before the chief magistrate’s court centred on excerpts from the book.
One of the counts accused Mr Farotimi of intentionally transmitting communication which he knew to be false information “for the purpose of causing breakdown of law and order thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 24(1) (b) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended.”
The filing of the fresh charges came barely two days after the police arraigned the activist before a chief magistrate’s court in Ado Ekiti, following Mr Babalola’s petition to the Ekiti State Police Command, accusing the author of defaming him.
The police preferred 16 counts of criminal defamation against Mr Farorimi, who pleaded not guilty to all of them during his arraignment before the chief magistrate’s court on Wednesday.
The trial chief magistrate, Abayomi Adeosun, ordered that the defendant be remanded in the Ado Ekiti correctional centre for him to file a formal bail application.
He adjourned the case till Tuesday, 10 December, for the court to hear the bail application.
The prosecution, Samson Otsubu, had asked the court to remand Mr Farotimi in prison, while investigations continued.
It is still unclear if the police will eventually drop the magistrate’s court case or they will pursue the two simultaneously.
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