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How Dele Farotimi Defamed Me….Read Afe Babalola’s Petition
How Dele Farotimi defamed me, By Afe Babalola
The petition by Aare Babalola, dated November 9, 2024, to the Commissioner of Police in Ekiti State explicates the gravamen of his complaints to the police and the pedestal of his action against Farotimi.
Asterisked are defamatory portions in Dele Farotimi’s foreword in his book that stirred the hornets’ nest
Dear Sir,
CRIMINAL DEFAMATION OF AARE AFE BABALOLA, AFE BABALOLA & CO AND HER LAWYERS BY DELE FAROTIMI
I write to report the criminal defamation of myself, my law firm Afe Babalola & Co and my lawyers in person of Olu Daramola SAN and Ola Faro by one Dele Farotimi in his book titled ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’ published by Dele Farotimi publishers in respect of Suit no: SC/146/2005: Major Muritala Gbadamosi Eletu & Ors V.H.R.H Oba Tijani Akinloye & Ors.
SUIT NO: SC/146/2005: MAJOR MURITALA GBADAMOSI ELETU & ORS V. H.R.H OBA TIJANI AKINLOYE & ORS (2013) 15 NWLR PART 1378.
We were solicitors to the Gbadamosi Eletu family in the case of Major Muritala Gbadamosi Eletu & Ors V. H.R.H Oba Tijani Akinloye & Ors.
The Appellants lost the case at the High Court and the Court of Appeal before briefing my law firm to represent them at the Supreme Court.
The Appellant in this suit were Defendants at the High Court. The subject matter of the suit was 254 hectares of land at Osapa Eti-Osa Local Government Lagos sold to the late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu in 1977 by the Ojomu family. The said parcel of land was later acquired by Lagos State Government after it was sold to the Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu by the Ojomu family.
The Ojomu family contested the acquisition against Lagos State Government in Suit No: ID/1883/89 wherein the court set aside the acquisition by the Lagos State Government. The Ojomu family then instituted the suit at the High Court of Lagos State claiming that title to the land had reverted to the Ojomu family despite the earlier sale of the land to late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu.
We represented the Eletu family and Judgement was delivered by the Supreme Court on 13/7/2013 in favour of the Eletu family wherein the Supreme Court held that: “Where a party has fully divested himself of all interest in land, no right vests in him to deal with the same property by way of further alienation anymore. He is caught by the maxim, nemo dat quod non habet; that is, he cannot give that which he no longer has. In the instant case, it was unfortunate that the respondents claimed title to the whole of their family land compulsorily acquired by the Lagos State Government including the portion earlier sold to the father of the appellants and in which they were in effective possession. The claim so made without disclosing the truth and excluding the said portion so sold was clearly made in bad faith and smacked of insincerity. It was very unconscionable and consequently against the principles of equity and good conscience.”
The Supreme Court also held that: “A court of law should not allow itself to be used as an engine for the perpetration of fraud, in whatever guise.”
A copy of the judgment is hereby attached as annexure 1.
VARIATION OF JUDGEMENT
Honourable Justice Kumai Bayang AKA AHS JSC wrote the lead judgement. His Lordship erroneously limited the land of the Appellants to 10 hectares (24.17 acres) in respect to Suit no: M/779/93 whose subject matter was part of the 254 hectares owned by the Eletu family.
We immediately filed a motion for variation of the judgement of the Supreme Court pursuant to Order 8 Rule 16 of the Rules of Court. The said motion was heard and ruling delivered on 18/3/2014 granting statutory right of occupancy to the Appellants in respect to the entire 254 hectares sold to late Gbadamosi Bamidele Eletu by the Respondents.
A copy of the ruling is hereby attached as annexure 2.
ENFORCEMENT
Upon the delivery of the Judgement, our client surreptitiously employed the services of S.B Joseph & Co to enforce the judgement before we applied for variation of the judgement with the intention of not paying our professional fees.
The judgement was however varied on 18/3/2014 as earlier stated.
NEW SUIT BY ESTATES/PERSONS AFFECTED BY THE JUDGEMENT
Several residential estates were affected by the judgement of the Supreme Court among which were Pinnock Estate, Beach Resort, NICON Estate, Friends’ Colony Estate and Victory Park Estate etc. Dele Farotimi was lawyer to one of the Estates.
The affected estates and individuals immediately filed fresh suits against the Eletu family with the purpose of frustrating the judgement of the Supreme Court.
The Eletu family were lured by the affected estates to settle some of the suits behind our law firm despite being counsel on record by filing terms of settlement with the aim of denying us our professional fees. This was admitted by Dele Farotimi in page 73 of his book ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’.
INTERVENTION BY LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT