Embattled human rights lawyer and activist, Dele Farotimi has been granted bail by the Ekiti State High Court.
The court granted Farotimi bail in the sum of N50 million, with a surety of the same amount.
The court ruled that the surety must possess a landed property and adjourned the matter to January 29, 2025, for further proceedings.
Farotimi was taken to court by Chief Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, after being arrested by operatives of the Ekiti State Police Command.
The State high court had ordered the remand of the human rights lawyer in the state’s correctional centre.
Farotimi was arraigned in court over alleged defamation of character following the publication of his book, ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’ where he alleged, among others, that a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Afe Babalola, had compromised the Supreme Court.
Chief Magistrate Abayomi Adeosun after listening to the police prosecutor, Samson Osubu who filed a 16-count allegations to which Farotimi pleaded not guilty, adjourned the matter till December 10, 2024.
READ ALSO:Â Court denies bail to Dele Farotimi adjourns case till December 10
Farotimi was arrested in Lagos on Monday by policemen from Ekiti State and whisked to Ado Ekiti following which he was arraigned on Wednesday.
The arrest sparked outrage across the country, prompting civil society organizations and the Nigerian Bar Association to call for the activist’s release, while threatening to embark on a protest if the court fails to do so.
Farotimi’s arrest was disclosed by the 2023 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, in a post on his X handle on Tuesday, who called for the lawyer’s immediate release, emphasising that the police should not be used to settle personal disputes.
Sowore wrote: “It is pertinent that the Nigerian police are notified that the institution cannot continue to be used to settle personal scores, and we, the citizens of Nigeria, would no longer tolerate such a situation.”
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