LAGOS – A group of Nigerian activists, and organisations at home and in the Diaspora have come together to coordinate support for Dele Farotimi, embattled human rights lawyer in his current fight against corruption in the Nigerian judicial system.
Known as Justice for Dele Farotimi Coalition, members of the coalition include Omoyele Sowore, former African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate and publisher of Sahara Reporters; Rudolf Okonkwo, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, a human rights activist, lawyer and former Chairman, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC); Barrister Deji Adeyanju, a human rights lawyer, and Dr Malcolm Fabiyi of Governance Advancement Initiative for Nigeria (GAIN).
According to a statement by Dr Fabiyi, Spokesperson, Justice for Dele Farotimi Coalition, made available to Sunday Independent, the coalition’s work is aimed at supporting the coordination of efforts towards ensuring that Dele Farotimi gets justice.
Fabiyi said: “Everyone knows that the Nigerian judicial system is corrupt. The politicians say it. The people know it. Even judges have come out to decry the corruption within the system.
“In the polling that we do at GAIN, the judiciary and the police consistently rank at the top of Nigeria’s ratings of the most corrupt institutions in the country.”
He maintained that Farotimi’s offence, “it seems to have had the audacity to provide names and context to this patently obvious corruption.”
Fabiyi noted the irony that Farotimi’s treatment so far has further confirmed his allegations that the system is corrupt.
He asked: “How is a man jailed in Ekiti for not attending court proceedings that he received no notifications were taking place?
“How does a man get charged for an offence of criminal libel that legal scholars like Professor Odinkalu tell us does not exist in Ekiti State law?
“And most egregious of all, how does a team of policemen from Ekiti travel past multiple states to arrest a citizen of Lagos State, within Lagos State?
“This is a train of illegalities mounted and layered upon one another. Yet, the person whose rights have been abused is the one in chains and in prison!
“This is real-time confirmation of the allegations that Dele has made.”
Meanwhile, the coalition announced that its work will be focused on three things.
According to Fabiyi, “These are first, the setting up of a Legal Defence Fund to ensure that Dele Farotimi will have the means and resources to robustly defend himself.
“Secondly, the coalition will coordinate Global Action in Support of Dele’s Cause. Thirdly, the coalition announced a new Whistleblowing Initiative aimed at encouraging insiders with knowledge about corruption within the judicial system, especially as it pertains to Dele’s assertions of judicial corruption against Chief Afe Babalola and some judicial officers, to provide such information.”
According to Fabiyi, the coalition will provide a secure platform for information sharing and provide monetary incentives for the whistleblowers.
“For every act of corruption, there is a clerk who moves files; there is a court registrar that was asked to make corrupt administrative alterations.
“There are emails, letters, notes and text messages. There are bank workers who are aware of secret transfers.
“If the system thinks that by shutting down Dele Farotimi, they have scared Nigerians into silence, they are mistaken.
“They will be unleashing a Pandora’s box of catastrophe on themselves.”
The coalition, Sunday Independent gathered, will be holding online meetings regularly, to which the general public will be invited using a particular link.
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