Barely a week after Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Afe Babalola, withdrew his case against lawyer and rights activist Mr Dele Farotimi, concerns persist among Nigerians over the status of other pending lawsuits against him.
These concerns arise from the fact that, although the police arrested and charged Farotimi with 12 counts of cybercrime offences and 16 counts of criminal defamation based on Babalola’s petition, other lawyers have also initiated legal action, seeking over ₦1 billion in damages.

On 6 December 2024, a SAN, Mr Kehinde Ogunwumiju, sued Farotimi for alleged defamatory statements in his book Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System. The Managing Partner at Afe Babalola & Co sought ₦500 million in damages and asked the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja to halt the book’s publication and sale in both physical and online bookstores.
Ogunwumiju further requested the court to seize all existing copies of the book and insisted that Farotimi publish an apology in two national newspapers.
Less than five days later, on December 11, 2024, another lawyer from Babalola’s firm, Mr Ola Faro, petitioned the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt, alleging that Farotimi had also defamed him in the same book.
Faro highlighted specific passages in the book which, he claimed, falsely accused him, Babalola, and their law firm, Afe Babalola & Co, of compromising the integrity of the Supreme Court. According to Faro, these statements were untrue and deliberately aimed at damaging his reputation.
Faro is seeking ₦500 million in damages for unlawful defamation and an additional ₦100 million for the book’s distribution.
Meanwhile, following the intervention of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and other traditional rulers in the dispute between Babalola and Farotimi, police prosecutor Samson Osobu applied for the withdrawal of the cybercrime charges at the resumed hearing last Wednesday at the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
However, a separate criminal charge brought by the police against Farotimi before a chief magistrate’s court in Ado-Ekiti remains unresolved, with the case still scheduled for February 13.
On 3 December 2024, reports emerged that Farotimi had been arrested in Lagos by the police.
Confirming his arrest, the Ekiti State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Abutu Sunday, stated:
“The command wishes to inform members of the public that Mr Dele Farotimi is currently under investigation following a petition submitted to the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, alleging defamation of character and cyberbullying. He was arrested today in Lagos under a warrant after repeated attempts to bring him in for questioning proved unsuccessful.”