Activists dare police over Dele Farotimi's arrest, threaten to protest in Ekiti, Lagos, Abuja, UK Tuesday

The determination of the police to stop them from protesting the continued detention of human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi has moved some activists to deep anger.

Though the Ekiti State Police Command had claimed that the decision to prohibit the planned protest was reached to ensure the safety of lives and property in the state, the activists have refused to back down as they have declared Tuesday, December 10 as their preferred day.

The activists have threatened to extend the demonstration to Lagos, Abuja and the United Kingdom to draw attention to what they termed the illegal arrest, detention and trial of Farotimi.

Ever since Farotimi was arrested by the Ekiti State Police Command following a defamation petition filed by Chief Afe Babalola, SAN, various individuals and organisations have expressed sadness over the development.

The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, is insistent that the offence for which Farorimi was arrested had been decriminalised under the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011, disclosing that defamation as a criminal law was repealed by the Supreme Court in a case between Aviomoh v. Commissioner of Police & Anor (2021) in 2021.

The rights lawyer, in his book: ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System,’ had alleged that Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgement in the service of his clients.

Unconcerned, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, in the 2023 general elections, Mr Omoyele Sowore, and other rights activists in London have planned a protest for Tuesday when the court hearing of bail application filed by Farotimi’s legal team is schedule to sit.

Although the Police Public Relations Officer of the state’s command, DSP Sunday Abutu, in a statement, said: “any form of unlawful gathering, demonstration or protest is unacceptable as the intelligence report available has it that some unscrupulous individuals have planned to hide under this protest to hijack it and unleash mayhem and create apprehension in the state,” Sowore urged Nigerians to use the demonstration in calling for Farotimi’s release.

The publisher of Sahara Reporters said this via his X, formerly Twitter, noting that the point of convergence in Abuja will be the Ministry of Justice and Federal High Court, Abuja; Ekiti convergence point is the Police Headquarters Ado-Ekiti ; convergence point in Lagos will be the Afe Babalola Chambers at Emmanuel House, Plot 1, Block 4, CMD/Jubilee Road, Magodo; and meeting point at the United Kingdom is King’s College London.

Sowore stated: “The @PoliceNG can’t ban protests anywhere; we are getting loads of Nigerian citizens to shut down Ado-Ekiti on December 10, 2024, from 7 am. Buses are ready for those coming from out of state.

#FreeDeleFarotimiNow 1. Abuja convergence: Ministry of Justice and Federal High Court, Abuja 2. Ekiti parapo convergence: Police Headquarters Ado-Ekiti 3. Lagos convergence: Afe Babalola Chambers, Lagos Address: Emmanuel House, Plot 1, Block 4, CMD/Jubilee Road, Magodo GRA, Lagos 4. London UK CONVERGENCE: King’s College London Address: Strand, London, WC2R 2LS global online and offline revolt against the nigerian judiciary! Date: December 10, 2024. Time: 7 AM West African Time.”