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Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed concerns over the arrest and continuous detention of Lagos-based lawyer, Dele Farotimi.
Although the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti had recently granted bail to Dele Farotimi in the amount of ₦50 million after the police brought charges against him concerning allegations of cybercrime, the legal practitioner was at the premises of the Ado Ekiti Magistrate Court on Tuesday morning ahead of the hearing of a defamation charge filed against him by Aare Afe Babalola, SAN.
This comes hours after Farotimi, through his legal counsels, submitted a preliminary objection asking the court to strike out the suit.
Reacting, however, to the charges against the human rights advocate, Atiku, who was the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), argued that Farotimi’s only offence was trying to speak truth to power.
Atiku said the government and its collaborators would rather see the truth remain hidden than do the right thing in Farotimi’s case.
The former Vice President stated this in a post via his X handle.
Atiku wrote: “@DeleFarotimi, a lawyer and tireless advocate for human rights, now languishes in prison custody not for any crime but for the supposed “crime” of persistently speaking truth to power. His only offence lies in his unflinching commitment to exposing the truths that the government and its collaborators would rather remain hidden.
“More troubling still is the fact that he is detained and prosecuted under the guise of a law that does not even exist in Ekiti State. His plight serves as a poignant reflection of the pervasive climate of impunity and the blatant violation of citizens’ rights that has become all too common in Nigeria.
“Yet, perhaps the most alarming of all is the weaponization of the cyberbullying law, which is being used as a tool to harass, intimidate, and silence dissenting voices in the opposition and the press.”
Atiku challenged Nigerians to at this time remind the government at all level to honour the oath which they have sworn to protect.
He said: “On this solemn occasion of International Human Rights Day, let us take a moment to remind our leaders at every level of government to honour the oaths they have sworn to protect and uphold the constitutionally enshrined rights of the people. Only through this commitment can we hope to nurture and strengthen our democracy. -AA #HumanRightsDay.”
