#FreeDeleFarotimi: Afe Babalola Obtains Court Order To Ban Farotimi’s Bestseller, Seize Royalties
The book has been a topic of heated debate due to its allegations of judicial manipulation and recently became a global bestseller in the politics category on Amazon platform.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has issued an ex-parte order stopping the production and distribution of “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System”, a book written by human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi.
Ekwutosblog had reported that armed police officers arrested Farotimi at his office in Lagos State on 3 December, and took him to Ekiti, more than 300km.
On the following day he was arraigned before a Magistrate Court in Ado-Ekiti for alleged criminal defamation of legal luminary, Afe Babalola, SAN, in the book, “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System”.
The book accused Babalola of manipulating the judiciary to secure favourable rulings for his clients.
The allegations have not only attracted significant public interest but have also put the legal icon in the spotlight with growing condemnation for his use of the police to harass Farotimi.
However, the court order was requested and obtained by Afe Babalola, and demands that all sales and distribution of the book, both physical and digital copies, be stopped immediately.
In the suit No. CV/5372/24 filed before the court by Kehinde Ogunwumiju, SAN, the Head of Afe Babalola’s law firm, and dated December 6, 2024, the Plaintiff also sought a directive to seize any royalties generated from the book’s sales.
The court granted an interlocutory injunction restraining Farotimi and all affiliated parties from further distributing the book.
The injunction read, “An order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendant/respondent, whether acting by himself, his staff, employees, servants, privies, representatives, agents, publishers, distributors, sellers, re-publishers, re-sellers, or any other person however described including Amazon Online Bookstore, Rovingheights Bookstore, Booksellers Bookstore, Jazzhole Lagos Bookstore, Glendora Bookshop, Quintessence Lagos Bookstore and Patabah Books Limited from further publishing, selling, circulating, advertising, or distributing the physical/hard/digital/soft copies of the book authored by the defendant/respondent titled: ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System’, online.
“An order of interlocutory injunction directing the seizure of all physical copies of the book authored by the defendant/respondent titled, ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System’n wherever they may be.”
The legal move to block the book’s sale and distribution may be connected to its soaring global popularity, with critics and readers alike praising its bold exposé of Nigeria’s criminal justice system.
Meanwhile, distributors have stopped the sale of the book.
According to a source who demanded 10 copies of the book, he told SaharaReporters on Wednesday that he was told that henceforth the store in Abuja had ceased all sales of the book from their stores.
“Our attention has been drawn to an injunction sought against the sale of the book in bookstores sought by a SAN in Abuja in which our Company named was listed. Henceforth we have ceased all sales of the book from our stores,” the source quoted the text the vendor sent to him when he requested for the book.
