“The Nigerian Judicial System has no justice to dispense” – Dele Farotimi
I bought and read the book by Dele Farotimi – Nigeria and Its Justice Criminal System. From his riveting account of his experiences and understanding of how Nigeria’s judicial systems work and his informed decision to publish this book, I must confess that Dele Farotimi is insanely courageous. While courage is an admirable virtue to have, insanity is an affliction. Courage is one of those virtues that is universally admired. It never fails to inspire or evoke respect even from the weak. Insanity on the other hand often mediates rational reasoning of the person it afflicts. It could also be a ‘gift’ that insulates one from naturally prioritising self-preservation in decision-making. Dele was fully aware of his predicament with his appeals to readers;
“The truth of the putrefaction of our country, as typified by the stinking corruption of the judiciary, is urgent and by far more important than my personal convenience and or life. If I must self-immolate for you to behold the extent of the rot, so be it. But I urge you, my dear audience, not to allow my sacrifice to be made in vain (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p.19).”
It appears that Dele deliberately sacrificed himself for the Nigerian people. In so doing, he has offered himself as a sacrifice on the altar of truth, his truth in the current struggle for a better Nigeria. He wields the Truth as a weapon of choice in this struggle.
In his book, he asserted that “the Nigerian state is maintained by an inequitable system that is scaffolded by injustice and the system is allergic to the supremacy of the law.” He insisted the Nigerian Legal System is incapable of self-regulating itself, I would venture to add that it seems to also be incapable of self-reflection given the way it has responded in the past 14 days since Dele Farotimi’s abduction and detention. The long knives are out for Dele. It seems, only the blood of their common foe will satisfy the fervent pang of their thirsty blades. In his insanity, Dele believes in truth as his only shield. A shield that will ultimately vindicate him. He boldly insisted that;
” The truth-teller invents nothing; he does nothing innovative either. He just tells the truth pared down to the bones. When a land is as dark as Nigeria and the very foundations of that land are found on lies, the truth-teller becomes the outlier- one that is despised, persecuted, victimized, and sometimes outrightly eliminated or destroyed. The Nigerian state and its governing systems, including its force de frappe is very adroit at all of the above and possess a superabundant arsenal of state mischief which it very often deploys sometimes without provocation and many times without let. I am however happy to say: Bring it on! (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 18).”
He was aware that he would be in the crosshairs of those he named who would readily use a sledgehammer to squat a fly consequent to putting his unprecedented book in the public domain. I dare say – Dele Farotimi is insanely courageous.
In general terms, Dele echoed what most of us have already known for a long time. In the Afrobarometer survey on Trust in Public Institutions in Nigeria 2022, only 27% of Nigerians trust the Law Courts. While 47% of Nigerians believe that all or most of the Judges and Magistrates in Nigeria are corrupt, another 45 % believe that only some are corrupt. The recent report titled Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trends of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) could not be more indicting. The report shows that while the average cash bribe paid in Nigeria in 2023 amounted to NGN 8,284, an average of NGN 31,000 was paid to judges and magistrates, which represented the largest average cash bribes among all types of public officials. The idea of a corrupt Nigerian judicial system is indeed prevalent. The poem of iconic Niyi Osundare – My Lord, Tell Me Where to Keep Your Bribe indelibly captures this reality. If anybody is in doubt, please go and read that poem. Therefore, Dele’s assertion below is not novel to many Nigerians:
“The system of administration of impunity has assured that members of the ‘ruining crass’ are rarely ever held to account for their serial crimes against the victims of their misrule but the victims are never spared the harshness of the laws devoid of equity. The law enforcement agencies, from the police to the multiple paramilitary forces, are clear about the persons to whom the laws may apply and these are almost always the underclass and victims of the Nigerian state. The affluent and connected are rarely ever apprehended for their crimes but the poor are routinely victimized (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 15).“
“…When the rich are taken before the courts, it is almost always because of some internecine warfare within the ranks of the privileged and when this happens, they have demonstrated an uncanny ability to find the capacity to exploit multiple ways of escaping the consequences of their actions. Corruption has become a special class of offenses that is increasingly the exclusive preserve of the rich and powerful and almost all cases in this class end with some plea bargain and or the filing of nolle prosequis. The poor on the other hand is never able to catch a break. There are persons in our prisons that have absolutely no business with being there and it has become the standard fare that justice is for the rich whilst judgments are often for the poor (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 15).”
However, what makes Dele’s book special, is that he did not talk in general terms. He is specific in his assertions. He is specific in his indictment of the Nigerian Judiciary. In his acerbic criticism of the judicial system, he emphasised that;
“By some miracle that is uniquely Nigerian, we have managed to evolve a Criminal Justice system. The tragedy however is that it is the system itself that is criminal and the ones who should be citizens have become victims in the vice grips of a three-pronged system. The Executive is helmed by a man who is everything that should be nowhere near the office but then, he is the sum of the parts of each and every one of his predecessors. The Legislative branch is largely peopled by the most myopic collection of humanity; persons unyoked to vision, sybaritic cretins focused on consumption and they are completely uninterested in the plight of the people. The trinity is completed by the judiciary and it is of the judiciary that I write in this book (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 12).”
“…If Nigeria must be saved, it will be because we found the grace to face the truth of the many lies that we have told ourselves and that we have collectively promoted. What we have managed to build with our lies is a judiciary that is very much us. It is built in the image of the Nigerian state, it mirrors our police, customs and other institutions of our failing state. Our judiciary is completely Nigerian. There is nothing of the bastard in the men and women peopling our Criminal Justice System but it is the system itself that is criminal and it is the practitioners, from the registrars to we the lawyers and the judges that are generally criminal. The Nigerian judiciary is not the hope of the common man but is in truth, completely hopeless and unfit for purpose. Pretty much a mirror of everything Nigeria (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 13).”
Dele not only indicted the Nigerian Judicial System as criminal, but in his insanity he daringly ‘crossed the Rubicon’ to name names! Not just names – he called out the high and mighty by names. Amongst them, is the most towering sacred cow of the Nigerian Legal Practitioners in the land – Chief Afe Babalola. For a lawyer, a member of that neocolonial conservative elite professional group, Dele has dared to do the unthinkable in a book that took him 11 years to complete satisfactorily. There is no doubt in my mind that Dele is insanely courageous.
The unfolding saga could be likened to when the irrepressible Enoch in Achebe’s Thing Fall Apart who had once dared to kill the sacred python, unmasked the Egwugwu masquerade in public. Enoch did the unthinkable – Enoch killed an ancestral spirit! Even his fellow church members were at a loss about the consequences of such an abomination because such a thing had never been done. In his fervent zeal, he dared the gods and plunged head-on into a fight he could not possibly win. Is Dele the Enoch of our time? I don’t think so. While Enoch is an irascible character, Dele is deliberate and calculated.
Unprecedented actions often confound. At times such actions leave an inflexible system in a quandary about how to respond appropriately. The book could either be seen as tossing a grenade to blow up the Nigerian Judicial system along with its sacred cows or an attempt to hold up a mirror to it for self-reflection. He clearly intends the latter.
In a press conference, a day before his current abduction and detention, he detailed his harassment by State Security elements and an eventual invitation to Lagos Police Headquarters Zone 2 where he responded to defamation charges levelled against him by Tony Elumelu. He preempted his current persecution by talking about Chief Afe Babalola plot against him being hatched at Ado Ekiti. He spoke about how his then tenuous security and that of the other members of his household can no longer be guaranteed.
Since the inter-state abduction from his office in Lagos to Ado Ekiti to face 16 criminal defamation charges by the Nigeria Police, it seems that the dogs of war have been let loose on Dele. He has been brought and paraded to court in handcuffs like a common criminal. The Ado Ekiti Magistrate Court Judge has inexplicably and repeatedly denied him bail in breach of his rights. He has so far been in detention for 14 days and counting, which is a travesty. Our Nigerian Judicial System is baring its ugly teeth. His foes have unleashed additional series of ferocious litigations and other punitive measures against him since his detention. These include;
– The Inspector General of Nigerian Police has filed another 12 counts of criminal charges for cyberbullying and harassing Chief Afe Babalola to cause a breakdown of law and order, at the Ado Ekiti High Court under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015 as amended.
– Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN) and managing partner in Afe Babalola & co-filed a civil defamation case against him on the 11 of December, in Abuja seeking 500 million damages amongst other pleas to the court. The court granted an order against the publishing, selling and circulation of the book following an ex-parte application by the litigant. Hence, there is an interim order for the seizure of the physical copies of the book ahead of the further hearing in the case.
– Another civil defamation case has been filed against Dele Farotimi in Ibadan, Oyo State by Adebayo Adenipekun (SAN) on behalf of Afe Babalola Firm seeking 500 million damages amongst other pleas to the court. Just like the Abuja Hight court, the Oyo State High Court granted an interim order restraining Farotimi or any person acting through him from further printing the controversial book.
– Another Laywer from Afe Babalola’s firm Ola Faro has filed yet another case on the 11th of December at Port Harcourt, River State seeking N500 million in damages for defamation and N100 million in damages for distributing the book respectively, among other pleas to the court.
– Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Olu Daramola, a partner at Afe Babalola law chamber filed a N500 million suit against Dele Farotimi on the 13th of December at Abeokuta at Ojodu Abiodun division of Ogun State High court.
– Ola Faro has also petitioned the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) to strike-out Dele Farotimi’s name from Nigeria’s roll of legal practitioners.
There may yet be more arrows in the quivers of his merciless foes, whose “esteemed ” feathers have been ruffled. Their legal strategy is now at least clear – simultaneously exhaust and drown him with multiple cases across the country! It is ironic that the more he is harshly repressed and persecuted by the State, the more they confirm his thesis that the system is criminal, rigged for rich & powerful and not fit for purpose.
For a non-lawyer like me looking in from the outside, there is no doubt that the legal practitioner’s entity is cultish in its disposition. There is an entrenched cult of personalities and obsequious deference to seniority that is embedded into its very fabric. This cultural framework permeates and defines day-to-day professional conduct and expectations of those practising law in Nigeria. Dele Farotimi has deliberately defied the norm within the cult. Recall that before all these started, Dele recounted how he ran into the Ekiti Chief at Heathrow Airport in 2013 and offered to carry his bags. In the words of Dele;
“Baba had evidently been busy shopping at the duty-free shops. The ‘Omo Odo Agba’ that I am, I prostrated like a proper ‘Inalende Boy’, greeted the old man and offered my services in carrying his baggage. He gratefully declined and when I insisted on account of my concern for how he intended to carry so much on his own, he let on that he had help and was only waiting for some other person or persons (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 59).”
Such was the respect he commanded and the deference he once enjoyed even from Dele Farotimi. Recall that Dele sued Chief Afe Babalola earlier in 2016 for defamation. That suit was prematurely quashed by Justice Oyekan-Abdullai to deny Dele his day in court with Chief Afe Babalola. With the publication of this book, there is no doubt that Dele Farotimi is still pining to have his day in court with the powerful Ekiti Chief and his numerous minions. The question is – why is Dele Farotimi spoiling for a fight with this particular giant?
This defamation saga has elicited much response from lawyers and legal minds especially those that put themselves into the public and various media spaces. Many have circled the wagon around Chief Afe Babala for self-serving reasons — protect the institution at all costs! In compliance with their prevailing cultish norms and self-preservation, lots of these individuals are scared or reluctant to talk in direct and revealing terms about the insipid corruption of our judicial system even when it is generally acknowledged. It is somewhat understandable that many are constrained to preserve their practice and livelihood. These individuals are more comfortable conceiving the case as an issue dealing with the legal limits of free speech, the rights of defamed individuals to seek protection from the courts and all the technicalities associated with civil and criminal defamation and jurisdictions of courts and so on. For them, it is solely a matter of the stipulations of the Nigerian law, which is now before the courts to adjudicate. Many of these people that have sought to interpret the unfolding matter through the lens of the Nigerian Law Courts alone, have missed the larger issue that is at stake. Fred Nzeakor, Legal Practitioner in his interview with Arise TV on the 11th of December, aptly alluded that there are two courts in play – the Nigerian courts and the courts of public opinion. He is right!
It is obvious, Dele does not have faith in the Nigerian Judicial System. As far as he is concerned, “the Nigerian Judicial System has no justice to dispense.” Therefore, I do not think he intends to stack his cards on their table. He has already contended that the mighty Ekiti Chief has outsized corrupt influence over the courts in the land including the Supreme Court. Any victory that would be secured against him by his foes in those courts would be a pyrrhic victory at best.
I rather suspect that in his insanity and courage, Dele Farotimi’s grand plan is to use Chief Afe Babalola as an irresistible bait to hook the Nigerian Judicial System into public trial in the people’s court. A darkened old pot would find it difficult to defend against being called black. This is one court where Chief Afe Babalola, his minions and our inglorious Judicial System cannot win – not a chance. With his arrest and detention, the big fish has unwittingly taken the bait!
Meanwhile, Chief Afe Babalola gremlins are crawling out of the woodwork and it does not make a pretty sight. A WikiLeaks cable intercepted US secret documents have just surfaced exposing Chief Afe Babalola as President Obasanjo’s conduit to facilitate a $1.125 US million bribe to sway 5 appellate court judges in Jos, Plateau State in a high-profile Adamawa State governorship election case in 2004 to secure a favourable ruling for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Boni Haruna. (https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/04ABUJA1284_a.html). It is most likely that by the time these cases are over, many more stinking hidden skeletons will likely find their way into the public domain. This is one fight Chief Afe Babalola is designed to lose. Dele Farotimi has maintained that;
“I have set out to show you the extent of the decadence, corruption, and impunity that have overtaken our country and in doing this I have ensured that I am fastidious about telling the truth. I have absolutely no problem with meeting every single writ that anyone might care to issue for libel and the evidence of the truth that I have told are largely in the courts’ records.
…I am under no illusion about what has befallen our country and its judiciary but it is the duty of those who are blessed to be able to speak the truth to speak (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 12).”
In his little way, Dele has courageously shown light into the catacombs of our rotten judicial system and some of those tending it based on his direct professional practice experience. We should applaud the attempt to draw much-needed public attention and scrutiny to our decaying judicial system. In doing so, we must respect his resolute suicidal resolve to name names. There is the most urgent need to clean out the ‘Augeans stables’ of this most critical Nigerian Institution if we are ever going to pull back from the precipice and survive as a country.
In conclusion, what we have before us is not just about Dele Farotimi’s book defaming Chief Afe Babalola. It is all about having the courage to speak up. It is about the willingness of each one of us to stand and fight in our own little way for the soul of our failing corrupt country. Are you too ready to stand up and be counted? Nigeria would not be a place where Truth goes to die if there were many more who are insanely courageous as Dele Farotimi.
Dele Farotimi is Insanely Courageous
“The Nigerian Judicial System has no justice to dispense” – Dele Farotimi
I bought and read the book by Dele Farotimi – Nigeria and Its Justice Criminal System. From his riveting account of his experiences and understanding of how Nigeria’s judicial systems work and his informed decision to publish this book, I must confess that Dele Farotimi is insanely courageous. While courage is an admirable virtue to have, insanity is an affliction. Courage is one of those virtues that is universally admired. It never fails to inspire or evoke respect even from the weak. Insanity on the other hand often mediates rational reasoning of the person it afflicts. It could also be a ‘gift’ that insulates one from naturally prioritising self-preservation in decision-making. Dele was fully aware of his predicament with his appeals to readers;
“The truth of the putrefaction of our country, as typified by the stinking corruption of the judiciary, is urgent and by far more important than my personal convenience and or life. If I must self-immolate for you to behold the extent of the rot, so be it. But I urge you, my dear audience, not to allow my sacrifice to be made in vain (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p.19).”
It appears that Dele deliberately sacrificed himself for the Nigerian people. In so doing, he has offered himself as a sacrifice on the altar of truth, his truth in the current struggle for a better Nigeria. He wields the Truth as a weapon of choice in this struggle.
In his book, he asserted that “the Nigerian state is maintained by an inequitable system that is scaffolded by injustice and the system is allergic to the supremacy of the law.” He insisted the Nigerian Legal System is incapable of self-regulating itself, I would venture to add that it seems to also be incapable of self-reflection given the way it has responded in the past 14 days since Dele Farotimi’s abduction and detention. The long knives are out for Dele. It seems, only the blood of their common foe will satisfy the fervent pang of their thirsty blades. In his insanity, Dele believes in truth as his only shield. A shield that will ultimately vindicate him. He boldly insisted that;
” The truth-teller invents nothing; he does nothing innovative either. He just tells the truth pared down to the bones. When a land is as dark as Nigeria and the very foundations of that land are found on lies, the truth-teller becomes the outlier- one that is despised, persecuted, victimized, and sometimes outrightly eliminated or destroyed. The Nigerian state and its governing systems, including its force de frappe is very adroit at all of the above and possess a superabundant arsenal of state mischief which it very often deploys sometimes without provocation and many times without let. I am however happy to say: Bring it on! (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 18).”
He was aware that he would be in the crosshairs of those he named who would readily use a sledgehammer to squat a fly consequent to putting his unprecedented book in the public domain. I dare say – Dele Farotimi is insanely courageous.
In general terms, Dele echoed what most of us have already known for a long time. In the Afrobarometer survey on Trust in Public Institutions in Nigeria 2022, only 27% of Nigerians trust the Law Courts. While 47% of Nigerians believe that all or most of the Judges and Magistrates in Nigeria are corrupt, another 45 % believe that only some are corrupt. The recent report titled Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trends of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) could not be more indicting. The report shows that while the average cash bribe paid in Nigeria in 2023 amounted to NGN 8,284, an average of NGN 31,000 was paid to judges and magistrates, which represented the largest average cash bribes among all types of public officials. The idea of a corrupt Nigerian judicial system is indeed prevalent. The poem of iconic Niyi Osundare – My Lord, Tell Me Where to Keep Your Bribe indelibly captures this reality. If anybody is in doubt, please go and read that poem. Therefore, Dele’s assertion below is not novel to many Nigerians:
“The system of administration of impunity has assured that members of the ‘ruining crass’ are rarely ever held to account for their serial crimes against the victims of their misrule but the victims are never spared the harshness of the laws devoid of equity. The law enforcement agencies, from the police to the multiple paramilitary forces, are clear about the persons to whom the laws may apply and these are almost always the underclass and victims of the Nigerian state. The affluent and connected are rarely ever apprehended for their crimes but the poor are routinely victimized (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 15).“
“…When the rich are taken before the courts, it is almost always because of some internecine warfare within the ranks of the privileged and when this happens, they have demonstrated an uncanny ability to find the capacity to exploit multiple ways of escaping the consequences of their actions. Corruption has become a special class of offenses that is increasingly the exclusive preserve of the rich and powerful and almost all cases in this class end with some plea bargain and or the filing of nolle prosequis. The poor on the other hand is never able to catch a break. There are persons in our prisons that have absolutely no business with being there and it has become the standard fare that justice is for the rich whilst judgments are often for the poor (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 15).”
However, what makes Dele’s book special, is that he did not talk in general terms. He is specific in his assertions. He is specific in his indictment of the Nigerian Judiciary. In his acerbic criticism of the judicial system, he emphasised that;
“By some miracle that is uniquely Nigerian, we have managed to evolve a Criminal Justice system. The tragedy however is that it is the system itself that is criminal and the ones who should be citizens have become victims in the vice grips of a three-pronged system. The Executive is helmed by a man who is everything that should be nowhere near the office but then, he is the sum of the parts of each and every one of his predecessors. The Legislative branch is largely peopled by the most myopic collection of humanity; persons unyoked to vision, sybaritic cretins focused on consumption and they are completely uninterested in the plight of the people. The trinity is completed by the judiciary and it is of the judiciary that I write in this book (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 12).”
“…If Nigeria must be saved, it will be because we found the grace to face the truth of the many lies that we have told ourselves and that we have collectively promoted. What we have managed to build with our lies is a judiciary that is very much us. It is built in the image of the Nigerian state, it mirrors our police, customs and other institutions of our failing state. Our judiciary is completely Nigerian. There is nothing of the bastard in the men and women peopling our Criminal Justice System but it is the system itself that is criminal and it is the practitioners, from the registrars to we the lawyers and the judges that are generally criminal. The Nigerian judiciary is not the hope of the common man but is in truth, completely hopeless and unfit for purpose. Pretty much a mirror of everything Nigeria (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 13).”
Dele not only indicted the Nigerian Judicial System as criminal, but in his insanity he daringly ‘crossed the Rubicon’ to name names! Not just names – he called out the high and mighty by names. Amongst them, is the most towering sacred cow of the Nigerian Legal Practitioners in the land – Chief Afe Babalola. For a lawyer, a member of that neocolonial conservative elite professional group, Dele has dared to do the unthinkable in a book that took him 11 years to complete satisfactorily. There is no doubt in my mind that Dele is insanely courageous.
The unfolding saga could be likened to when the irrepressible Enoch in Achebe’s Thing Fall Apart who had once dared to kill the sacred python, unmasked the Egwugwu masquerade in public. Enoch did the unthinkable – Enoch killed an ancestral spirit! Even his fellow church members were at a loss about the consequences of such an abomination because such a thing had never been done. In his fervent zeal, he dared the gods and plunged head-on into a fight he could not possibly win. Is Dele the Enoch of our time? I don’t think so. While Enoch is an irascible character, Dele is deliberate and calculated.
Unprecedented actions often confound. At times such actions leave an inflexible system in a quandary about how to respond appropriately. The book could either be seen as tossing a grenade to blow up the Nigerian Judicial system along with its sacred cows or an attempt to hold up a mirror to it for self-reflection. He clearly intends the latter.
In a press conference, a day before his current abduction and detention, he detailed his harassment by State Security elements and an eventual invitation to Lagos Police Headquarters Zone 2 where he responded to defamation charges levelled against him by Tony Elumelu. He preempted his current persecution by talking about Chief Afe Babalola plot against him being hatched at Ado Ekiti. He spoke about how his then tenuous security and that of the other members of his household can no longer be guaranteed.
Since the inter-state abduction from his office in Lagos to Ado Ekiti to face 16 criminal defamation charges by the Nigeria Police, it seems that the dogs of war have been let loose on Dele. He has been brought and paraded to court in handcuffs like a common criminal. The Ado Ekiti Magistrate Court Judge has inexplicably and repeatedly denied him bail in breach of his rights. He has so far been in detention for 14 days and counting, which is a travesty. Our Nigerian Judicial System is baring its ugly teeth. His foes have unleashed additional series of ferocious litigations and other punitive measures against him since his detention. These include;
– The Inspector General of Nigerian Police has filed another 12 counts of criminal charges for cyberbullying and harassing Chief Afe Babalola to cause a breakdown of law and order, at the Ado Ekiti High Court under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015 as amended.
– Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN) and managing partner in Afe Babalola & co-filed a civil defamation case against him on the 11 of December, in Abuja seeking 500 million damages amongst other pleas to the court. The court granted an order against the publishing, selling and circulation of the book following an ex-parte application by the litigant. Hence, there is an interim order for the seizure of the physical copies of the book ahead of the further hearing in the case.
– Another civil defamation case has been filed against Dele Farotimi in Ibadan, Oyo State by Adebayo Adenipekun (SAN) on behalf of Afe Babalola Firm seeking 500 million damages amongst other pleas to the court. Just like the Abuja Hight court, the Oyo State High Court granted an interim order restraining Farotimi or any person acting through him from further printing the controversial book.
– Another Laywer from Afe Babalola’s firm Ola Faro has filed yet another case on the 11th of December at Port Harcourt, River State seeking N500 million in damages for defamation and N100 million in damages for distributing the book respectively, among other pleas to the court.
– Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Olu Daramola, a partner at Afe Babalola law chamber filed a N500 million suit against Dele Farotimi on the 13th of December at Abeokuta at Ojodu Abiodun division of Ogun State High court.
– Ola Faro has also petitioned the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) to strike-out Dele Farotimi’s name from Nigeria’s roll of legal practitioners.
There may yet be more arrows in the quivers of his merciless foes, whose “esteemed ” feathers have been ruffled. Their legal strategy is now at least clear – simultaneously exhaust and drown him with multiple cases across the country! It is ironic that the more he is harshly repressed and persecuted by the State, the more they confirm his thesis that the system is criminal, rigged for rich & powerful and not fit for purpose.
For a non-lawyer like me looking in from the outside, there is no doubt that the legal practitioner’s entity is cultish in its disposition. There is an entrenched cult of personalities and obsequious deference to seniority that is embedded into its very fabric. This cultural framework permeates and defines day-to-day professional conduct and expectations of those practising law in Nigeria. Dele Farotimi has deliberately defied the norm within the cult. Recall that before all these started, Dele recounted how he ran into the Ekiti Chief at Heathrow Airport in 2013 and offered to carry his bags. In the words of Dele;
“Baba had evidently been busy shopping at the duty-free shops. The ‘Omo Odo Agba’ that I am, I prostrated like a proper ‘Inalende Boy’, greeted the old man and offered my services in carrying his baggage. He gratefully declined and when I insisted on account of my concern for how he intended to carry so much on his own, he let on that he had help and was only waiting for some other person or persons (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 59).”
Such was the respect he commanded and the deference he once enjoyed even from Dele Farotimi. Recall that Dele sued Chief Afe Babalola earlier in 2016 for defamation. That suit was prematurely quashed by Justice Oyekan-Abdullai to deny Dele his day in court with Chief Afe Babalola. With the publication of this book, there is no doubt that Dele Farotimi is still pining to have his day in court with the powerful Ekiti Chief and his numerous minions. The question is – why is Dele Farotimi spoiling for a fight with this particular giant?
This defamation saga has elicited much response from lawyers and legal minds especially those that put themselves into the public and various media spaces. Many have circled the wagon around Chief Afe Babala for self-serving reasons — protect the institution at all costs! In compliance with their prevailing cultish norms and self-preservation, lots of these individuals are scared or reluctant to talk in direct and revealing terms about the insipid corruption of our judicial system even when it is generally acknowledged. It is somewhat understandable that many are constrained to preserve their practice and livelihood. These individuals are more comfortable conceiving the case as an issue dealing with the legal limits of free speech, the rights of defamed individuals to seek protection from the courts and all the technicalities associated with civil and criminal defamation and jurisdictions of courts and so on. For them, it is solely a matter of the stipulations of the Nigerian law, which is now before the courts to adjudicate. Many of these people that have sought to interpret the unfolding matter through the lens of the Nigerian Law Courts alone, have missed the larger issue that is at stake. Fred Nzeakor, Legal Practitioner in his interview with Arise TV on the 11th of December, aptly alluded that there are two courts in play – the Nigerian courts and the courts of public opinion. He is right!
It is obvious, Dele does not have faith in the Nigerian Judicial System. As far as he is concerned, “the Nigerian Judicial System has no justice to dispense.” Therefore, I do not think he intends to stack his cards on their table. He has already contended that the mighty Ekiti Chief has outsized corrupt influence over the courts in the land including the Supreme Court. Any victory that would be secured against him by his foes in those courts would be a pyrrhic victory at best.
I rather suspect that in his insanity and courage, Dele Farotimi’s grand plan is to use Chief Afe Babalola as an irresistible bait to hook the Nigerian Judicial System into public trial in the people’s court. A darkened old pot would find it difficult to defend against being called black. This is one court where Chief Afe Babalola, his minions and our inglorious Judicial System cannot win – not a chance. With his arrest and detention, the big fish has unwittingly taken the bait!
Meanwhile, Chief Afe Babalola gremlins are crawling out of the woodwork and it does not make a pretty sight. A WikiLeaks cable intercepted US secret documents have just surfaced exposing Chief Afe Babalola as President Obasanjo’s conduit to facilitate a $1.125 US million bribe to sway 5 appellate court judges in Jos, Plateau State in a high-profile Adamawa State governorship election case in 2004 to secure a favourable ruling for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Boni Haruna. (https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/04ABUJA1284_a.html). It is most likely that by the time these cases are over, many more stinking hidden skeletons will likely find their way into the public domain. This is one fight Chief Afe Babalola is designed to lose. Dele Farotimi has maintained that;
“I have set out to show you the extent of the decadence, corruption, and impunity that have overtaken our country and in doing this I have ensured that I am fastidious about telling the truth. I have absolutely no problem with meeting every single writ that anyone might care to issue for libel and the evidence of the truth that I have told are largely in the courts’ records.
…I am under no illusion about what has befallen our country and its judiciary but it is the duty of those who are blessed to be able to speak the truth to speak (Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System p. 12).”
In his little way, Dele has courageously shown light into the catacombs of our rotten judicial system and some of those tending it based on his direct professional practice experience. We should applaud the attempt to draw much-needed public attention and scrutiny to our decaying judicial system. In doing so, we must respect his resolute suicidal resolve to name names. There is the most urgent need to clean out the ‘Augeans stables’ of this most critical Nigerian Institution if we are ever going to pull back from the precipice and survive as a country.
In conclusion, what we have before us is not just about Dele Farotimi’s book defaming Chief Afe Babalola. It is all about having the courage to speak up. It is about the willingness of each one of us to stand and fight in our own little way for the soul of our failing corrupt country. Are you too ready to stand up and be counted? Nigeria would not be a place where Truth goes to die if there were many more who are insanely courageous as Dele Farotimi.
Written by Dr Okey Ndubueze
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