Legal practitioner and activist, Mr. Dele Farotimi l, has been granted bail by the Ekiti State High Court.
The bail conditions included entering of a bond in the sum of ₦50 million and a surety in bond of the same amount, with the surety required to possess landed property.
The case was subsequently adjourned to 29th January, 2025 for mention.
Faoritmi was dragged to court by Chief Afe Babaloa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, after he was arrested by operatives of the Ekiti State Police Command, based on a petition alleging criminal libel against Chief Babalola and two other lawyers in the same Emmanuel Chambers, Babalola’s law office.
Babalola, 95, accused Farotimi of defaming him and the other lawyers and the law firm in a book titled “Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System”, written by Farotimi.
The arrest had sparked outrage across the country, prompting civil society organisations and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to call for the release of the activist.
Other activists like Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has opened that there is no law like Criminal Libel in Ekiti State, stressing that what Farotimi wrote about cannot be tried in the state, since it is not in any existing law.
