The court remanded Mr Farotimi in prison and fixed a date for the hearing of his bail application.
A Chief Magistrate's Court in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, Wednesday, remanded a lawyer and activists, Dele Farotimi, in prison over alleged defamation of Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and founder of Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti (ABUAD).
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the police invaded Mr Farotimi's office in Lekki on Tuesday to arrest him and transported him to Ado Ekiti, following Mr Babalola's petition.
Mr Babalola alleged in his petition that Mr Babalola defamed him in his book, 'Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System'.
The book, according to the prosecution, alleged that Mr Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgment in the service of his clients.
The defendant pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the 16 counts preferred against him by the police.
The trial chief magistrate, Abayomi Adeosun, ordered that the defendant be remanded in the Ado Ekiti correctional centre for him to file a formal bail application.
He adjourned the case till Tuesday, 10 December, for the court to hear the bail application.
The prosecution, Samson Otsubu, had asked the court to remand Mr Farotimi in prison, while investigations continued.
He said Mr Farotimi's co-conspirators are still at large and the published books are still in circulation.
"The Supreme Court judges mentioned in the book are yet to be investigated. To avoid threat to national security, we want to humbly say that the defendant be kept at Ado Ekiti correctional center pending the conclusion of the investigation," the prosecutor said.
Defence lawyer, Peter Akeredolu, leading three others, made an oral application for the defendant's bail on Wednesday.
Mr Akeredolu said the alleged offences in the case are bailable.
"We are in this court when the charges were read and none of the charges is linked to capital offence which is not bailable. Chapter 35 of the 1999 constitution as amended guarantees the liberty of the people. This application is premised on the fact that an accused is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
"The court should admit the defendant to bail on very liberal terms especially on self-recognisance. The man in the dock is a lawyer of 25 years standing. We pray the honourable court to grant him bail on self recognisance. There are three health challenges the defendant is currently managing."
But ruling, the magistrate said he could not grant bail to the defendant based on an oral application.
"Enough materials have not been brought to the court to enable me to exercise my discretion. It is not enough to cite a plethora of cases tile the defendant counsel have done," the magistrate ruled.
He then ordered the defence to a formal bail application and fixed 10 December for hearing.
Reactions
Mr Farotimi's arrest had triggered a wave of reactions.
The NBA condemned the arrest, saying there was no legal basis for it as the alleged criminal defamation over which he was arrested does not constitute a criminal act in Lagos where he was arrested.
The NBA called for his immediate release.
Also, Mike Igini, a former Resident Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Wednesday, similarly called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to order the release of the detained lawyer.
Mr Igini said the news of the advocate's arrest came "as a rude shock and indeed, unbelievable but true."
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"The manner of his arrest in Lagos and driven by road to far away Ekiti State has brought back the terrible memories of those years of military dictatorship when citizens were dumped in the trunk or butt of military vehicles and taken to various locations for detention and torture when patriotic and committed Nigerians were fighting for this democracy that is being messed up today by those who didn't fight for it as well as those who made sacrifices for it at the time the the journey of Nigerian democracy was less certain," the Mr Igini said.
He urged the police to respect Mr Farotimi's freedom of expression as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution.
"It must be respected and preserved in any functional democracy under the rule of law which is preferable to the rule of men no matter how magnanimous," he said, while urging the Nigerian police to not allow itself be railroaded into "taking up fight with citizens on behalf of fellow citizens over civil wrongs that are actionable and can be remedied in court of law."
