Nigerian activists and organisations have formed a coalition to provide unified support to a Nigerian lawyer, Dele Farotimi, in his ongoing legal tussle with legal luminary, Afe Babalola.
A statement issued by the coalition spokesman, Malcolm Fabiyi, said their efforts are targeted at ensuring that Mr Farotimi gets justice.
Members of the coalition included the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, activists Rudolf Okonkwo, Chidi Odinkalu, Deji Adeyanju, and Malcolm Fabiyi of Governance Advancement Initiative for Nigeria, GAIN.
“Everyone knows that the Nigerian judicial system is corrupt. The politicians say it. The people know it. Even judges have come out to decry the corruption within the system.
“In the polling that we do at GAIN, the judiciary and the police consistently rank at the top of Nigeria’s ratings of the most corrupt institutions in the country,” he said.
He said Mr Farotimi’s offence is to have had the audacity to provide names and context to the corruption.
Mr Fabiyi noted the irony that Mr Farotimi’s treatment so far has further confirmed his allegations that the system is corrupt.
“How is a man jailed in Ekiti for not attending court proceedings that he received no notifications were taking place?” he asked.
“How does a man get charged for an offence of criminal libel that legal scholars like Professor Odinkalu tell us does not exist in Ekiti state law? And most egregious of all, how does a team of policemen from Ekiti travel past multiple states to arrest a citizen of Lagos state, within Lagos state?
“This is a train of illegalities mounted and layered upon one another, yet the person whose rights have been abused is the one in chains and in prison! This is real-time confirmation of the allegations that Dele has made.”
The coalition announced that its work will be focused on three things, which are as follows: First, the setting up of a legal defence fund to ensure that Dele Farotimi will have the means and resources to robustly defend himself.
“Secondly, the coalition will coordinate global action in support of Dele’s cause.
“Thirdly, the coalition announced a new whistleblowing initiative aimed at encouraging insiders with knowledge about corruption within the judicial system, especially as it pertains to Dele’s assertions of judicial corruption against Chief Afe Babalola and some judicial officers, to provide such information,” he added.
According to Mr Fabiyi, the coalition will provide a secure platform for information sharing and provide monetary incentives for the whistleblowers.
“For every act of corruption, there is a clerk who moves files, there is a court registrar that was asked to make corrupt administrative alterations. There are emails, letters, notes and text messages.
“There are bank workers who are aware of secret transfers. If the system thinks that by shutting down Dele Farotimi they have scared Nigerians into silence, they are mistaken. They will be unleashing a Pandora’s box of catastrophe on themselves,” he added.
The coalition is scheduled to have an online meeting later on Tuesday at 7pm Nigerian time to which the general public is invited using the link https://bit.ly/Farotimi.
