Mr. Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, has criticised the arrest of author and human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi by operatives of the Ekiti State police command.
Obi demanded the immediate his immediate release, while slamming the use of access to power to suppress right of citizens to freedom of expression.
Farotimi was arrested on Tuesday from his Lagos office by police officers from Ekiti who drove him all the way to Ekiti.
He had earlier in a press statement accused some police operatives suspected to be from Ekiti of planning to arrest him over an issue regarding the content of a book he published, for which Chief Afe Babalola, a senior lawyer, said defamed his character.
The Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Mr Adeniran Akinwale, had defended the arrest, claiming that the alleged offences committed by Farotimi included “defamation of character, cyberstalking and other things” noting that those two allegations were “fully established.”
However, condemning the arrest in a statement via his X account on Tuesday, Obi said it was a gross misuse of police powers, and a grave assault on the principles of democracy and justice in Nigeria.
"I just learned of the arrest of Dele Farotimi, a respected human rights lawyer and advocate, over an allegation of defamation," Obi said.
"This action is a gross misuse of police powers and a grave assault on the principles of democracy and justice in Nigeria.
"I condemn this action in totality. It represents not only an attempt to intimidate opposing voices from questioning authority .
"It is also a worrying signal to every Nigerian who loves and values freedom of expression and dares to demand accountability and transparency.
"The Nigeria Police Force exists to protect the rights of citizens, not to suppress them.
"Defamation, by its nature, is a civil matter that should be addressed in court through due legal process in line with the dictates of the rule of law in a democracy.
"As a private citizen, former governor, and even today, I am frequently defamed, insulted, and lied about and against. Yet, I have never resorted to using the Nigerian police or filing reports to silence others.
"Those who feel otherwise should seek redress through the proper legal channels, not by weaponizing the police or abusing their access to authority or state power.
"The resort to police action, in this case, reeks of abuse of power and raises serious concerns about the independence and professionalism of the police as a civil force.
"I hereby request that Dele Farotimi should be released immediately and unconditionally. The police must recognize that their allegiance is to the Constitution and the people of Nigeria, not to narrow interests at the behest of those in power."
The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the 2023 elections, Omoyele Sowore, also condemned the arrest of Farotimi stressing that the process was undemocratic.
Sowore in a tweet on Tuesday demanded the release of the lawyer while noting that the police should avoid being used to settle personal scores.
He tweeted, “I just spoke with Kunle Akinwale, the Commissioner of @PoliceNG Ekiti State Command. He admits that they arrested @DeleFarotimi and that he’s being driven from Lagos to Ekiti by road.
“I told him categorically that this constituted an abuse of @PoliceNG’s powers and that this was a civil case that ought not to have warranted police intervention. When he admitted to me that they were driving him from Lagos, I asked him repeatedly, “Did he kill someone?”
“He even said he was still under investigation for “cybercrime.” This illegal arrest was staged by one of Nigeria’s most senior lawyers, Afe Babalola SAN. This is just despicable.’
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