Kehinde Ogunwumiju, a senior advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and managing partner of Afe Babalola & Co., is taking legal action against Dele Farotimi over alleged false and defamatory statements made in his book, “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System.”
In a lawsuit filed on December 6th, Ogunwumiju is seeking a court order to halt the publication and sale of the book in physical and online bookstores. He is also requesting N500 million in damages.
The lawsuit states: “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 howsoever 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, electronically, physically or by any other means including social media, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.”
Ogunwumiju also requested the court to order the seizure of all copies of the book and for Farotimi to issue a public apology in two national newspapers.
Farotimi was recently arrested by the Ekiti State Police Command on charges of defamation and cyberbullying related to allegations against Babalola. While he has been granted bail for the cybercrime charges, he still faces defamation charges.