Drop charges against Farotimi, his arrest unconstitutional- CSO coalition to Police

A coalition of over eighty civil society groups and Non-Governmental Organisations have condemned the arrest, detention, persecution and torture of human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi, who reportedly defamed legal luminary, Afe Babalola,

The Coalition also tasked the Police to immediately drop the charges against the Activist and release him without preconditions.

Describing the manner of Farotimi’s arrest as an aberration, the coalition insisted that the Activist lawyer should not have been treated like a criminal in a case of civil defamation, as enshrined in Section 4 of the Police Act of 2020.

A press release by the coalition, including CISLAC, Global Rights, CITAD, and over 80 other organisations said the Activist’s arrest was troubling considering the aggressive and confrontational manner it was carried out.

The statement signed on behalf of the coalition by Abubakar Mohammed of 21st Century Community Empowerment for Youth and Women Initiative said ‘‘the CCTV footage released by his office after his arrest revealed the thoroughly unprofessional and violent nature of the police officers who crossed state lines to arrest him.

The coalition said, ‘‘Another troubling aspect of this saga is the fact that Farotimi was charged by the Police before a Magistrate Court in Ekiti State on 16 counts of criminal defamation. However, the crime of criminal defamation is unknown to the Ekiti State’s Criminal Law of 2021 which currently spells out the criminal law regime in Ekiti State. It also does not exist in the Criminal Code of Lagos where Farotimi resides, works, presumably wrote his book, and was abducted from. Our Constitution provides in Section 36(12) that “subject as otherwise provided by this Constitution, a person shall not be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty therefore is prescribed in a written law”.

Based on the foregoing, the Coalition is demanding that the Police immediately drop the charges against Farotimi and release him without preconditions.

‘‘That the Attorney General of Ekiti State should step in immediately to officially discontinue the case against Farotimi if the police do not act fast enough in doing so.

‘‘All laws that support criminal defamation in Nigeria’s criminal jurisprudence should be immediately repealed and cases initiated under those laws should be struck out by the courts.

‘‘The Inspector-General of Police should issue a force-wide order directing the police to cease effecting arrests premised on defamation. The Nigerian Police needs to stop being a willing tool of the powerful to oppress law-abiding citizens

‘‘Those who feel that Farotimi wrongfully tarnished their reputations with the claims he made in his book should seek redress in civil court.

The Coalition also tasked law enforcement agencies to uphold their constitutional mandate to serve and protect citizens, rather than act as tools for the powerful to silence dissent.