Activist and lawyer, Dele Farotimi, has revealed that he is still entangled in four separate lawsuits filed by members of Aare Afe Babalola’s law office, despite the withdrawal of criminal charges against him.
Farotimi made this disclosure on Sunday during the Toyin Falola Interviews, weeks after Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), founder of Afe Babalola University, announced the withdrawal of his petitions against him.
Babalola had accused Farotimi of defamation over statements made in his book, Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System, leading to his arrest and prosecution in Ekiti State.
He was arraigned before both a Magistrate Court and the Federal High Court in Ado Ekiti on charges of criminal defamation and cyber-bullying.
Following the intervention of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and other traditional rulers, Babalola withdrew the case.
However, Farotimi stated that while the police had discontinued the criminal charges, he still faced four civil suits in different states.
“My inability to speak on certain aspects of this issue is because, despite the withdrawal of the criminal case, I am still dealing with four lawsuits filed by members of the same law office,” he revealed.
Farotimi defended the contents of his book, dismissing claims that his statements were baseless or personal attacks.
“I did not sit in a beer parlour or at an officers’ mess gossiping. It was not idle talk. I wrote a book,” he declared.
“Let us focus on veracity. Anyone can read it and challenge me on any falsehood.”
He insisted that the ongoing legal battle was not about his reputation but about the Nigerian judiciary itself.
“This is not a trial of Dele Farotimi. Let nobody make that mistake. It is a trial of the legal system we have collectively built,” he stated.
Farotimi maintained that Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System was never meant as a personal attack on Afe Babalola or any individual, but rather an exposé on systemic corruption within the judiciary.
“Chief Afe Babalola is old enough to be my father. I did not write to destroy him or tarnish his image,” he said.
“I was critiquing the institution of the judiciary, not personalities.”
He emphasized that his book mentioned multiple names and offices, focusing on institutional failings rather than personal grievances.
“All I did was write a book. Maybe we’ve become so accustomed to lies and allergic to truth that speaking the truth is now considered a sin,” he lamented.
Farotimi argued that Nigeria’s justice system rewards deception and punishes truth, urging Nigerians to engage with uncomfortable realities to foster meaningful reform.
“We have built a system that rewards lies and punishes truth. I am being sued not because I have lied, but because I dared to speak the truth,” he asserted.
He also criticized those who dismissed his book without reading it, describing their actions as intellectually lazy.
“Ninety per cent of the people criticizing me have not read the book,” he said. “If Nigerians would stop being so philistinic and illiterate, if they dared to read, there would be no argument about the truth of what I wrote.”
