Human rights lawyer Dele Farotimi has been arrested on allegations of criminal libel, according to Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Femi Falana.
Falana said Farotimi was arrested in Lagos State on Tuesday but is demanding for him to be “unconditionally” released from “illegal custody”.
“I just confirmed that Mr. Dele Farotimi was arrested in Lagos today for alleged criminal libel,” he said in a Tuesday statement.
“In demanding Mr. Farotimi’s unconditional release from illegal custody, I wish to state, without any fear of contradiction, that Lagos State is among the two states in Nigeria that have decriminalised defamation in its entirety.
“In fact, the current state of the law was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the case of Aviomoh v Commissioner of Police & Anor. (2021) LPELR-55203(SC) when Helen Ogunwumiju JSC held that “Defamation was decriminalised in the Criminal Law of Lagos in 2011 and Edo State Criminal Law Bill 2020.”
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However, the police authorities have yet to issue an official statement on the matter.
Earlier in the day, Farotimi had alleged that there were plots to silence him after he received a police invite.
“At the station, I was presented with a petition written by a lawyer, accusing me of defamation,” he wrote on social media. “Despite finding the petition baseless, I addressed its content.”
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