Farotimi defamed me because he lost land dispute case — Afe Babalola

Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has accused the remanded human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi, of deliberately defaming him in his book after failing to secure a favourable judgement for his client in a land dispute case.

Babalola, who expressed worry over the public reactions to the issue, said Farotimi should be remorseful or face the consequences in court.

Newspot reports that Farotimi was accused of defaming Afe Babalola in his book titled “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System,” where he alleged that Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgement in the service of his clients.

Farotimi, who was arrested on Monday, had since been remanded in prison custody by an Ado Ekiti Chief Magistrate Court on Wednesday, December 3, 2024.

Babalola addressed journalists in Ado Ekiti on Friday through his legal team, comprising three former chairmen of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Ekiti branch, namely Owoseni Ajayi, Lawrence Fasanmi and Olakanmi Falade.

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Ajayi, a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, noted that Farotimi, being a lawyer, ought to know that putting such allegations against the elder statesman and judiciary would have grave consequences.

According to him: “The Ojomu family in 1977 sold 254 hectares of land at Osapa Eti-Osa Local Government area of Lagos State to the late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu. In 1989, the said land was subsequently acquired by the state government. The Ojomu family contested the acquisition in Suit No. ID/1883/89, wherein the court set aside the acquisition by the Lagos Government.

“The Ojomu family then instituted the suit at the Lagos State High Court, claiming that title to the land had reverted to the Ojomu family despite the earlier sale of the land to late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu.

“The Gbadamosi Eletu family lost the case at the High Court and the Court of Appeal before briefing Afe Babalola ‘s Chambers to represent them at the Supreme Court. On 13/7/2013 judgement was delivered by the Supreme Court in favour of the Eletu family. By this judgement, the Supreme Court recognised the sale of land to the Gbadamosi Eletu family; 254 hectares were sold to the Eletu family. Honourable Justice Kumai Bayang, aka AHS JSC, who wrote the lead judgement, recorded 10 hectares in error instead of 254 hectares.

“Upon the delivery of the judgement, the Gbadamosi Eletu family surreptitiously employed the services of SB Joseph & Co to enforce the judgement before Afe Babalola Chambers applied for variation of the judgement. This was presumed to be because the Eletu family wanted to avoid paying Afe Babalola’s Chambers’ professional fees.

“However, in 2014, the Gbadamosi Eletu family came back to Afe Babalola Chambers. Immediately, lawyers from Afe Babalola’s chambers filed a motion for variation of the judgement of the Supreme Court pursuant to Order 8 Rule 16 of the Rules of the Supreme Court, which allows application to be brought to correct clerical errors. The said motion was heard and ruling delivered on 18/3/2014 granting statutory right of occupancy to the Gbadamosi Eletu family in respect to the entire 254 hectares sold to the late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu by the Ojomu family.

“Several estates affected by the Supreme Court judgement include Pinnock Estate, Beach Resort, Friends’ Colony Estate, Victory Park Estate and NICON Estate etc. Dele Farotimi was one of the estate lawyers.

“The affected individuals and estates immediately filed fresh suits against the Eletu family to frustrate the Supreme Court judgment. Eletu family was lured by the affected estates to settle some of the suits behind Babalola’s chambers despite being counsel on record. They filed terms of settlement with the court without the knowledge of Babalola chambers.

“Clearly, all these assertions in his said book run foul of Section 59 of the Criminal Code Act: Publication of false news with intent to cause fear and alarm in the public.”