Human rights attorney Dele Farotimi has been granted N30 million bail by a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ado Ekiti.
The lawyer was detained earlier this month for reportedly disparaging Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and the founder of Afe Babalola University in Ado Ekiti, ABUAD.
Despite a strong security presence, Farotimi, who was remanded in a detention facility in the capital of Ekiti State, Ado Ekiti, came at the Magistrate Court grounds at approximately 9:45 a.m. on Friday.
A widely shared video clip claims that the human rights attorney was driven to the court grounds in a prison van accompanied by a police officer. He got off the vehicle and raised his hands in gratitude to the applauding audience outside the court.
At the most recent hearing, magistrate Abayomi Adeosun ordered the activist to be held in prison and deferred his decision on the bail application until today, December 20.
Farotimi entered a not guilty plea to the 14-count indictment that the Ekiti State Police had brought against him.
Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, his attorney, has also submitted a preliminary objection, requesting that the case be dropped.
He claimed that the indictment against him was unheard of and that the Ekiti State, 2021, Criminal Law did not recognize the crime of defamation.
