A group of Nigerian activists and organizations in Nigeria and the diaspora have come together under the aegis of “Justice for Dele Farotimi Coalition” to coordinate support for human rights lawyer, Mr. Dele Farotimi “in his current fight against corruption in the Nigerian judicial system.”

According to a statement seen by CITY LAWYER, members of the coalition include Mr. Omoyele Sowore, former AAC presidential candidate and publisher of Sahara Reporters; Mr. Rudolf Okonkwo, Professor Anselm Odinkalu, Barrister Deji Adeyanju and Dr. Malcolm Fabiyi of Governance Advancement Initiative for Nigeria, GAIN.

According to Fabiyi, spokesperson for the coalition, their work “is aimed at supporting the coordination of efforts towards ensuring Dele Farotimi gets justice.”

“Everyone knows that the Nigerian judicial system is corrupt,” said Fabiyi. “The politicians say it. The people know it. Even judges have come out to decry the corruption within the system. In the polling that we do at GAIN, the judiciary and the police consistently rank at the top of Nigerian’s ratings of the most corrupt institutions in the country.

“Dele’s offence, it seems, is to have had the audacity to provide names and context to this patently obvious corruption.”

Fabiyi noted the “irony” that Farotimi’s treatment so far “has further confirmed his allegations that the system is corrupt.

“How is a man jailed in Ekiti for not attending court proceedings that he received no notifications were taking place? How does a man get charged for an offense of criminal libel that legal scholars like Professor Odinkalu tell us does not exist in Ekiti State law? And most egregious of all, how does a team of police men from Ekiti travel past multiple states to arrest a citizen of Lagos State, within Lagos State?

“This is a train of illegalities mounted and layered upon one another, yet the person whose rights have been abused is the one in chains and in prison! This is real time confirmation of the allegations that Dele has made.”

The coalition announced that its work will be focused on three things. Said Fabiyi: “These are: First, the setting up of a Legal Defense Fund to ensure that Dele Farotimi will have the means and resources to robustly defend himself. Secondly, the coalition will coordinate Global Action in Support of Dele’s Cause.

“Thirdly the coalition announced a new Whistleblowing Initiative aimed at encouraging insiders with knowledge about corruption within the judicial system especially as it pertains to Dele’s assertions of judicial corruption against Chief Afe Babalola and some judicial officers, to provide such information.”

According to Fabiyi, the coalition will provide a secure platform for information sharing and provide monetary incentives for the whistleblowers.

Said Fabiyi: “For every act of corruption there is a clerk who moves files, there is a court registrar that was asked to make corrupt administrative alterations. There are emails, letters, notes and text messages. There are bank workers who are aware of secret transfers. If the system thinks that by shutting down Dele Farotimi they have scared Nigerians into silence, they are mistaken. They will be unleashing a Pandora’s box of catastrophe on themselves.”

The coalition has scheduled an online meeting “to which the general public is invited using the link https://bit.ly/Farotimi,” said Fabiyi.

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