Afe Babalola, a senior lawyer and founder of the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, has formally withdrawn his defamation case against Dele Farotimi, the author of Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System.
Farotimi had written in the book that Babalola used his influence to compromise the judiciary and some justices of the Supreme Court.
That claim did not sit down well with Babalola and he got the police to arrest Farotimi on December 4 in Lagos State. The police transported Farotimi from Lagos to Ekiti.
Subsequently, the police filed a criminal charge numbered FHC/AD/CR/104/2024 against him at a Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti.
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The police were the prosecutor while Babalola was the nominal complainant.
Withdrawing the matter on Wednesday, Samson Osobu, a police prosecutor, informed the court that he had filed an application to discontinue the case pursuant to Section 108, subsection 1 and 2 (a) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.

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With no objection from Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), who was Babalola’s legal representative, Justice Babs Kuewumi struck out the case.
On Sunday, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife, led some traditional rulers to persuade Babalola to let go of the case.
Aside from the withdrawn case, there are other lawsuits before courts in Oyo and Abuja initiated by lawyers sympathetic to Babalola and they are yet to be discontinued.
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