WHY AFE BABALOLA SUPPORTERS ARE WRONG ABOUT DELE FAROTIMI’S BOOK

By Cyprian Edward-Ekpo

I feel quite irritated about a plethora of write-ups from persons considered to be of esteemed scholastic disposition. One of them is an Open Letter to King’s College of the University of London by Tonye Clinton Jaja, a PhD holder of the University of London. Such an opinion shouldn’t come from a member of the intelligentsia ascribed to the University of London.

Available to Afe Babalola, are better ways — to make a refutal or discredit Farotimi’s book and information contained therein through or either by the following means :
(1) published or caused to be published an article or a counter-fact published book,
(2) make or caused to be made an appraisal annotation or a review of the book.
(3) File a civil tort suit for damages and other remedies focusing on the book.

The reading and watching public would simply deduce the facts and logic from them, and form their respective judgments. No other way known to law in real sense exists.

Let me be very clear, what Dele Farotimi’s publication represents is a piece of intellectual work , and such should only be refuted or discredited intellectually, instead of use of brute force and criminal prosecution.

Reading from supporters of Afe Babalola and his group, it further tells how intellectual poverty characterizes Nigerians, and how hypocritical a vast number of Nigerians are, even when they had undergone PhDs programs in top-rated colleges of the world. Nigerianism runs in their blood and brains all the time.

The method Babalola alongside his group is using, which speaks volume of something he tries to hide, is very much of incivility, and he is only possible to do so because there is an emerging trend of human rights violation which I term ” Judicial Violation of Human Rights “. This concept of rights violation emerged, and of course, looms large in Nigeria, and forms part of the problematic vortex Farotimi’s book is attempting to address in his own command of language and perspective of facts.

Let me be very clear, Farotimi’s right of freedom of expression is being infringed upon,using the instrumentality of the law enforcement agency and archaic anti-human rights laws, enacted to stifle the constitutional human rights and international human rights that evolved from natural law precepts.

Let me also add, assuming without conceding that criminal prosecution is the proper way, folks claiming to be senior lawyers have challenged Dele Farotimi to prove the allegations said to be published in his book, or face the consequences.
First, it is trite law that the burden of proof is on the prosecution who alleges and charges. In the instant case, the police are to prove how the book publication constitutes criminal defamation, not Dele Farotimi. Second, it must be done in a court of competent jurisdiction — both territorial and substantive.
Also, the contemporary standard jurisprudence on defamation is that where there is a civil tort or other remedies available, criminal complaint can only be employed as the last resort,and only if the alleged offense affects public interest or public morality apropos to democratic society norms.

It is crystal clear that Nigerian judiciary is infested with corruption of a gargantuan proportion.
Do you want everyone to be quiet about it like Zombies?

Those who try to glorify the termite-infested Nigeria’s judiciary, forgetting that once a country’s judiciary is the bane, the entire systems would someday collapse, are not just hypocrites, they are enemies of humanity.

~ Cyprian Edward-Ekpo

Cyprian Edward-Ekpo Dialectics & Treatise