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The arrest of human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi, by Ekiti State Police Command, on alleged defamation, has continued to generate condemnation from rights activists and civil society organizations.
A former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili; the founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank, Atedo Peterside and Activist Comedian, Debo Adedayo, also known as Mr. Macaroni, have condemned Dele’s arrest.
Mrs. Ezekwesili regretted that Farotimi was arrested for speaking truth to power. She demanded the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to intervene in the arrest and ensure the human rights lawyer is released.
“Dele speaks the mind of majority of the Nigerian citizens every time he speaks “Truth to Power”.
“His right to continue to keep government accountable in all its dealings must be protected.
“I advise the IGP to ask his officers to provide an update on Mr. Farotimi and secure his release urgently“, Ezekwesili said.
On his part, Peterside noted that those who demanded Farotimi’s arrest had no hiding place.
He described him as a detribalized citizen who is committed to a Nigeria that works.
“The people writing petitions against DeleFarotimi along with their errand boys in Nigeria Police have actually defamed themselves far more than Dele could ever have done. There is no hiding place for them.
“Dele Farotimi is a brilliant intellectual and a detribalized Nigerian who epitomizes the conscience of the nation. By their actions they have confirmed that Dele is a giant that they are afraid of,” Peterside stated.
Mr. Macaroni, on Wednesday, condemned the action of the police. He decried that Farotimi was arrested for a book he wrote condemning the corrupt system of the country.
“Dele Farotimi wrote a book called ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System’ and the brazen impunity which the book seeks to address is playing right before our eyes. How does one describe this insanity?
“Using the Police to abduct a person from one state to another state, the intimidation and harassment of his staff, seizure of their phones.
“For how long will the Nigerian Police continue to allow themselves be used by the “High and Mighty” to oppress Nigerians? This is what happens when we support that civil matters be treated as criminal matters because of political differences or stanship.
“We have opened the season to the rich and influential who can have a Nigerian arrested by the police because the person said that the big man’s fart stinks. Even people who should know better now abuse power because there are zero consequences for these actions.
“Our system of corruption allows the innocent man who hasn’t been proven guilty of committing any crime suffer while the guilty who commits numerous crimes trying to prove that the innocent man committed a crime roams freely,” Adedayo wrote on his X handle.
