Renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria and founder of Afe Babalola University, Aare Afe Babalola, has alleged that lawyer and activist Dele Farotimi defamed him in a book published recently.
The accusation stems from a Supreme Court judgment involving a land dispute that spanned over two decades.
In a petition dated November 19 and addressed to the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Adeniran Akinwale, Babalola detailed how his law firm discovered Farotimi’s book, Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System and the defamatory contents therein.
“I write to report the criminal defamation of myself, my law firm Afe Babalola & Co and my lawyers in person of Olu Daramola SAN and Ola Faro by one Dele Farotimi in his book titled ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’ published by Dele Farotimi publishers in respect of Suit no: SC/146/2005: Major Muritala Gbadamosi Eletu & Ors V. H.R.H Oba Tijani Akinloye & Ors,” the petition read.
He claimed the book contained several defamatory statements that questioned his integrity and accused his law firm of unethical practices, including corrupting the judiciary.
He added, “Sometime on 2/11/2024, one of our lawyers while travelling through Murtala Muhammed Airport bought a book by Dele Farotimi titled ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’ published by Dele Farotimi publishers. He read the said book and immediately brought it to my attention. Many of my lawyers also bought the said book and read same.”
Lawyer and human rights advocate, Dele Farotimi
Babalola stated that the book accused him of “corrupting the Supreme Court from ages past and had led it to commit the most egregious acts of evil and wanting injustice.”
The petition noted, “The said defamatory statements are detailed below:
“That Aare Afe Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgement in the service of his client” See page IX.
“That Aare Afe Babalola, Olu Daramola, Olu Faro and the law offices of Afe Babalola & Co, (Emmanuel Chambers) compromised the Supreme Court and the remaining semblance of integrity it might have had when they went back to the Supreme Court and got the Court to swim in the sewer of corruption and shameful self-Abnegation”. See page X
“That Afe Babalola libeled me and the fact of the libel became known to me in a suit against Lawal Pedro SAN”. See page X.
“That I sued Afe Babalola SAN for libel and he leveraged his influence in the Judiciary to deny me justice”. See page X.”
Giving a background of the case, the petition stated that the case concerned 254 hectares of land in Lagos, which the Supreme Court awarded to his client in 2013.
He further alleged that Farotimi’s comments in the book suggested that he and his law firm compromised the judiciary, tarnishing the integrity of the apex court.
According to the petition, Farotimi’s statements, which were also highlighted in media interviews and widely circulated online, were designed to damage his reputation, discredit his law firm, and cause clients to lose trust in his professional ethics.
“All these statements are false and incorrect written deliberately to destroy my reputation. Dele Farotimi referred to me severally in his book as the Doyen of the legal profession,” Babalola said.
According to the petition, the controversy originated from the Supreme Court judgment on July 13, 2013, which ruled in favour of Babalola’s client, the Gbadamosi Eletu family.
The case involved land acquired by the Lagos State Government but later contested by the Ojomu family, who sold the land to Babalola’s client decades earlier.
Babalola’s legal team successfully argued that the Ojomu family acted in bad faith by attempting to reclaim the land after its sale.
However, the judgment sparked litigation from estates affected by the ruling, including Pinnock Estate, NICON Estate, and others.
Babalola said that Farotimi, as counsel to one of these estates, criticised the judgment in his book and accused Babalola of unethical conduct.
On Wednesday, Farotimi was remanded in prison custody by a magistrate court in Ado-Ekiti following his arrest on a 16-count charge of criminal defamation.
He was apprehended by officers of the Ekiti police command in Lagos and transported to Ekiti for arraignment.
Babalola has called for an urgent investigation into Farotimi’s claims, the recovery of all copies of the book, and a halt to its further distribution.
He also urged authorities to address what he described as Farotimi’s admitted “disregard for the rule of law.”
Babalola, who described himself as a pillar of the Nigerian legal profession, emphasised his six-decade-long career marked by integrity, discipline, and professionalism.
Read full text below:
The Commissioner of Police,
Ado-Ekiti,
Ekiti State.
Dear Sir,
CRIMINAL DEFAMATION OF AARE AFE BABALOLA, AFE BABALOLA & CO AND HER LAWYERS BY DELE FAROTIMI
I write to report the criminal defamation of myself, my law firm Afe Babalola & Co and my lawyers in person of Olu Daramola SAN and Ola Faro by one Dele Farotimi in his book titled ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’ published by Dele Farotimi publishers in respect of Suit no: SC/146/2005: Major Muritala Gbadamosi Eletu & Ors V. H.R.H Oba Tijani Akinloye & Ors.
SUIT NO: SC/146/2005: MAJOR MURITALA GBADAMOSI ELETU & ORS V. H.R.H OBA TIJANI AKINLOYE & ORS (2013) 15 NWLR PART 1378
We were solicitors to the Gbadamosi Eletu family in the case of Major Muritala Gbadamosi Eletu & Ors V. H.R.H Oba Tijani Akinloye & Ors.
The Appellants lost the case at the High Court and the Court of Appeal before briefing my law firm to represent them at the Supreme Court.
The Appellant in this suit were Defendants at the High Court. The subject matter of the suit was 254 hectares of land at Osapa Eti-Osa Local Government Lagos sold to the late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu in 1977 by the Ojomu family. The said parcel of land was later acquired by Lagos State Government after it was sold to the Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu by the Ojomu family.
The Ojomu family contested the acquisition against Lagos State Government in Suit No: ID/1883/89 wherein the court set aside the acquisition by the Lagos State Government. The Ojomu family then instituted the suit at the High Court of Lagos State claiming that title to the land had reverted to the Ojomu family despite the earlier sale of the land to late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu.
We represented the Eletu family and Judgement was delivered by the Supreme Court on 13/7/2013 in favour of the Eletu family wherein the Supreme Court held that: “Where a party has fully divested himself of all interest in land, no right vests in him to deal with the same property by way of further alienation anymore. He is caught by the maxim, nemo dat quod non habet; that is, he cannot give that which he no longer has. In the instant case, it was unfortunate that the respondents claimed title to the whole of their family land compulsorily acquired by the Lagos State Government including the portion earlier sold to the father of the appellants and in which they were in effective possession. The claim so made without disclosing the truth and excluding the said portion so sold was clearly made in bad faith and smacked of insincerity. It was very unconscionable and consequently against the principles of equity and good conscience”.
The Supreme Court also held that: “A court of law should not allow itself to be used as an engine for the perpetration of fraud, in whatever guise”.
A copy of the judgment is hereby attached as annexure 1.
VARIATION OF JUDGEMENT
Honourable Justice Kumai Bayang AKA’ AHS JSC wrote the lead judgement. His Lordship erroneously limited the land of the Appellants to 10 hectares (24.17 acres) in respect to Suit no: M/779/93 whose subject matter was part of the 254 hectares owned by the Eletu family.
We immediately filed a motion for variation of the judgement of the Supreme Court pursuant to Order 8 Rule 16 of the Rules of Court. The said motion was heard and ruling delivered on 18/3/2014 granting statutory right of occupancy to the Appellants in respect to the entire 254 hectares sold to late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu by the Respondents.
A copy of the ruling is hereby attached as annexure 2.
ENFORCEMENT
Upon the delivery of the Judgement, our client surreptitiously employed the services of S.B Joseph & Co to enforce the judgement before we applied for variation of the judgement with the intention of not paying our professional fees.
The judgement was however varied on 18/3/2014 as earlier stated.
NEW SUIT BY ESTATES/PERSONS AFFECTED BY THE JUDGEMENT
Several residential estates were affected by the judgement of the Supreme Court among which were Pinnock Estate, Beach Resort, NICON Estate, Friends’ Colony Estate and Victory Park Estate etc. Dele Farotimi was lawyer to one of the Estates.
The affected estates and individuals immediately filed fresh suits against the Eletu family with the purpose of frustrating the judgement of the Supreme Court.
The Eletu family were lured by the affected estates to settle some of the suits behind our law firm despite being counsel on record by filing terms of settlement with the aim of denying us our professional fees. This was admitted by Dele Farotimi in page 73 of his book ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’.
INTERVENTION BY LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT
The Lagos State Government issued a publication indicating their awareness of the Supreme Court judgement and the need for the State to intervene in order to maintain public peace and order. The Lagos State Government invited us for several meetings with respect to compromising the judgement of the Supreme Court.
The said judgement was eventually compromised and the Eletu family were compensated by the Lagos State Government so as to avoid a massive dislocation of persons and communities directly affected by the Judgement.
DEFAMATION BY DELE FAROTIMI
Sometime on 2/11/2024, one of our lawyers while travelling through Murtala Muhammed Airport bought a book by Dele Farotimi titled ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’ published by Dele Farotimi publishers. He read the said book and immediately brought it to my attention. Many of my lawyers also bought the said book and read same.
We received several calls from professional colleagues, friends and family members who watched a program on Channel’s TV wherein Dele Farotimi was interviewed with respect to the said book where he made several defamatory statements against myself, my law firm Afe Babalola & Co (Emmanuel Chambers), Olu Daramola SAN and Ola Faro Esq.
We also received several calls from persons who saw excerpts of the book and interview on several social media platforms.
The said defamatory statements are detailed below:
“That Aare Afe Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgement in the service of his client” See page IX.
“That Aare Afe Babalola, Olu Daramola, Olu Faro and the law offices of Afe Babalola & Co, (Emmanuel Chambers) compromised the Supreme Court and the remaining semblance of integrity it might have had when they went back to the Supreme Court and got the Court to swim in the sewer of corruption and shameful self-Abnegation”. See page X
“That Afe Babalola libeled me and the fact of the libel became known to me in a suit against Lawal Pedro SAN”. See page X.
“That I sued Afe Babalola SAN for libel and he leveraged his influence in the Judiciary to deny me justice”. See page X.
“That I have always been familiar with the fact of our perversion as a People and I have few illusions about equity and justice reigning in Nigeria but I had always assumed that there were lines that should never be crossed. I have however been slapped awake by the brazenness of the judicial brigandage unleashed on hapless citizens, corporate, and individuals by the Nigerian Supreme Court, acting under the direction of Aare Afe Babalola. At least five Justices of the Apex Court have been identified as guilty of odious corruption and or gross incompetence. Either is sufficient to have them removed from their office and this is my petition to the Nigerian people and most definitely to the NJC”. See pages 10 to 11.
“The first we knew of the magic been put together by Afe and his elves must have been around the middle of July”. See page 49.
“While all this was going on, we had a meeting in the law office of Afe Babalola in Magodo, where Olu Daramola SAN made himself unavailable, and had us meet with Olu Faro, a younger counsel……..but Olu Faro Esq was remarkably insolent and assured that we were made aware of just how powerful the law office he worked for believed itself to be and how much above the law and the practice of law they believed themselves to be”. See page 52.
“The judgement of the court was unanimous in giving judgement to the Eletus………But Justice Rhodes-Vivour laid a foundation for the fraud that was to come. He spoke of an unextinguished equitable interest in 254 hectares”. See page 52 to 53.
“We quickly realized that the law office of Afe Babalola & Co, Emmanuel Chambers had outsourced the judgement execution to another law office, the firm of S.B Joseph & Co the firm had fraudulently and deliberately concealed the judgement of AKA’AHS and had underlined the words of Justice Rhodes Vivour to deceive and perhaps mislead Atilade or as is more likely, Atilade was always a part of the original fraud”. See page 56.
“But even as Atilade J. played the contrition game, she was already part of the game plan being staged together by the grandmaster of judicial corruption in Nigeria, Afe Babalola. I have come to the conclusion that the required form of the application and her ruling were all part of the insidious plans of Afe Babalola, his band of crooked lawyers and coterie of crooked/incompetent justices of the Supreme Court”. See page 59.
“The battle to quash the warrant opened my eyes to the extent of the rot in the court system and I came to the knowledge of the sickening realities of the systemic putrefaction. The Supreme Court’s Judgement was doctored by the confederation of lawyers in Afe Babalola’s chambers and the law offices of S.B Joseph & Co and the end desired by the confederacy was sought with the active connivance of the head judge of the Lagos Division, Atilade J.”. See page 60.
“As the mountain of evidence in proof of the Eletus’ fraud began to pile up and in view of the order that Atilade had granted quashing the fraudulent warrant that she had issued and as Afe came to realize how useless the original judgement had become, Afe went back to the accomplices at the Supreme Court and this is the only logical explanation for the shameless and brazen review of the fraudulent judgement by the second seating of the court where the justices destroyed whatever doubt one might have harbored of either corruption and/ or incompetence”. See page 64.
“It was around this time we began to hear rumors of a return to the Supreme Court by Afe Babalola and his magical elves and the rumors became real when I got a call from Tokunbo Williams SAN, who informed me of the receipt of a motion on notice before the Supreme Court, seeking to correct an error in the judgement reproduced below”. See page 64.
“But apparently, we had underestimated the extent of the putrefaction of the Supreme Court and the extent of Chief Afe Babalola’s corrupt reaches into the innards of the Supreme Court”. See page 64.
“The quashed warrant of execution became the basis of Afe Babalola latest excursion to the Supreme Court and the error of my acceptance of the Corrupt offer of an exparte application to quash the warrant for “Documentary Irregularity” became obvious to me. I knew before the motion was heard, that the court was working to the conclusion desired by Aare Afe Babalola”. See page 67.
“The Lagos crowd had been snookered into a corner by the exertions of my chambers and we had demolished the original fraud that was hatched before Afe secured the first of the two judgements………..The Supreme Court cannot hide behind the incompetence of counsel as it has a duty to examine its own appalling intellectual indolence, corruption or incompetence”. See page 70.
“But the court as though enthralled by whatever Afe the Circus Master had Promised the Justices, acted with utmost carelessness about the integrity of the court, the interest of the citizens and the State that they had been sworn to protect. The conspiracy was always a step ahead of us because some of the clients mistook key members of the confederacy of friends and helpers”. See pages 70 to 71.
“The Attorney General had been dragged into the matter. The brutal attempt at enforcement of the original judgement against organized estates and corporate establishments had served to galvanize extremely critical and sensitive mass of the affected peoples and this was when Afe Babalola lost his influence on the Eletus and the Lagos Mafia whose original brief to procure enforcement of the judgement became the dominant force in the conspiracy muscling out the Afe gang. With Afe Babalola rendered impotent, Lawal Pedro muscled in on the queue”. See page 71.
“…… she knows more about the case that culminated in the Supreme Court Judgement and she also knew everything that I had known about the Eletus fraud and Afe Babalola’s shenanigans”. See page 76.
“But Afe knew that he could get the Supreme Court to do whatever he wanted and to rule however he asked. Pedro knew this too and he being the original Lagos boy, showed Afe a bit of Lagos magic. Afe Babalola and the Eletus might have killed the buffalo but had no way from feeding from the carcass. We have turned the corrupt triumph at the Supreme Court into a pyrrhic victory and it was at this point that Pedro craftily inserted himself into the plot”. See page 80.
“If Afe Babalola might be likened to the lion, Lawal Pedro and the Lagos gang are the originally Africa wild hyenas. They literally chased Afe Babalola off his skill. They repackaged the conspiracy, cut the losses and went for the lower hanging fruits”. See page 80.
“This was enough until “eedi” (karma) caught up with Afe Babalola; he dragged Lawal Pedro before the Lagos High Court and the Eletus before ICPC”. See page 81.
“Sometimes in 2016, I started hearing rumblings of some serious fight between Chief Afe Babalola and Lawal Pedro. I was told that Chief Afe Babalola had written a petition to the LPDC, alleging that Lawal Pedro had railroaded his client Gbadamosi Eletu, into an agreement that circumvents his own legal agreement with the Eletus. About same time, I also heard that the ICPC had been pressed into action against the Eletus, Lawal Pedro and S.B Joseph, which seemed quite incongruous, given the fact that the Eletus were not public officers this event stirred an interest in me. I got my popcorn at the ready and waited to be entertained by the squabbling thieves”. See page 81.
“When Amina Augie JSC railed against Chief Afe Babalola’s professional conduct, or misconduct in the Bayelsa case, she did so either as an ostrich or out of ignorance. Afe has been corrupting the Supreme Court from ages past and had led it to commit the most egregious acts of evil and wanting injustice. Afe knows what her ladyship does not know or pretend not to know: that justice does not live in the Nigerian court or you can get the court to do whatever you want, as long as you
