The Presiding Magistrate at the Chief Magistrate Court in Ado Ekiti has ordered fiery human rights lawyer, Mr. Dele Farotimi not to speak to the media regarding his legal face-off with leading senior lawyer, Chief Afe Babalola SAN.

The media gag came on the heels of bail granted the embattled rights advocate after he spent a total of 17 days behind bars, 16 of them at the Ado Correctional Centre in the Ekiti State capital.

Magistrate Abayomi Adeosun ruled in favour of Farotimi’s bail application, noting that “The bail conditions included two responsible sureties and required Farotimi to surrender his international passport to the court.” He was also directed to provide three sureties with landed property within the jurisdiction, while the case was adjourned to February 13, 2025.

Before the bail ruling, Adeosun ruled that Farotimi’s lead counsel, Mr. Olumide Fusika, SAN, was prohibited, as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, from appearing before a magistrate’s court.

The activist had arrived the Magistrate Court premises around 9:45 a. m. last Friday in a prison van with a police escort but without the handcuffs with which he was manacled on December 4.

The Ekiti Police Command had arraigned Farotimi following a petition by Babalola who accused the activist of criminal defamation in his recently released book.

Farotimi’s arrest and trial have attracted widespread attention. He is also facing multiple civil lawsuits by some senior lawyers in Babalola’s chambers arising from the controversial book.

On December 9, the Federal High Court in Ekiti granted Farotimi N50 million bail with one surety following a 12-count charge bordering on cybercrime filed by the Inspector General of Police.

To join our CITY LAWYER Channel on WhatsApp, click here

To join our Telegram platform, click here 

COPYRIGHT 2022 CITY LAWYER. Please send emails to citylawyermag@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at https://web.facebook.com/City-Lawyer-Magazine-434937936684320 and on “X” (TWITTER) at https://twitter.com/CityLawyerMag. To ADVERTISE in CITY LAWYER or for Special Features, please email citylawyermag@gmail.com or call 08138380083.

All materials available on this Website are protected by copyright, trade mark and other proprietary and intellectual property laws. You may not use any of our intellectual property rights without our express written consent or attribution to www.citylawyermag.com. However, you are permitted to print or save to your individual PC, tablet or storage extracts from this Website for your own personal non-commercial use.