The Take It Back Movement has vowed to go ahead with its planned protests in Ekiti, Lagos, Abuja, London and Canada following the detention of human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi, over defamation charges.
The group insisted this despite a directive by the Ekiti State Police Command banning unlawful gatherings, demonstrations, and the sale and use of fireworks across the state, citing concerns over public safety and security threats.
In a statement signed by the state police spokesperson, Abutu Sunday, on Friday, the command said, “Any form of unlawful gathering, demonstration, or protest is unacceptable”, adding that intelligence reports indicated plans by some individuals to exploit protests to incite violence and create panic.
But in an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the National Coordinator of Take It Back Movement, Juwon Sanyaolu, insisted that the police lacked a legal basis to ban peaceful protests.
He said, “The position of the TIB is the same and our action will go on as planned despite the police’s threats.”
He said, “The lawlessness of the Nigeria Police must not be allowed to go unchecked even though we are aware it is their trademark. The police cannot proscribe peaceful protest, that in itself is illegal. We are peacefully challenging in the public space the thuggery of the police officers, under the command of the Ekiti CP, who came all the way from Ekiti to abduct Farotimi in Lagos and assault his staff.
“While we are not against lawful processes, we will not hesitate to point out the conspiracy of the police and the judiciary in this matter. The very title of Farotimi’s book ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System,’ is what is also playing out in our very eyes with the police playing an active role.”
The elder statesman and founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), last Friday, insisted that Farotimi was out to tarnish his reputation which he had built following many years of hard work and diligent toil
Babalola, who said he petitioned the police to investigate the defamatory allegations made by Farotimi in the book titled, ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System,’ said charging the activist to court by the law enforcement agency was for the law to take its due course on the matter.
The senior advocate, represented by his lawyers, Owoseni Ajayi, Olakanmi Falade and Lawrence Fasanmi, who are former chairmen of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ado Ekiti branch, spoke at a press conference in the Ekiti State capital city.
The police in Ekiti State had, following a petition written by Babalola, arrested Farotimi in Lagos on Tuesday and arraigned him before an Ekiti State Magistrates Court in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday over allegations bordering on defaming the elder statesman.
While the police prayed the court to remand the defendant (Farotimi) in a correctional facility, Farotimi’s lawyer pleaded for bail for his client, but the Chief Magistrate, Abayomi Adeosun, ordered him remanded as he adjourned the matter till December 10, 2024.
The police have also filed fresh charges against Farotimi at a federal high court in Ado-Ekiti.
The new charges centred on cybercrime allegations picked from the activist’s online interviews.
According to the police, Farotimi appeared on Mic On Podcast hosted by popular broadcast journalist, Seun Okinbaloye, where he accused Babalola of corrupting the judiciary.
Meanwhile, the TIB, convened by former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, had last week said it would be staging the protest to challenge the “impunity of the Nigeria Police and the conspiracy of the judiciary.”
A flyer circulating on social media last Thursday issued by the group and tagged “Nationwide/Global Protest Against the Judiciary” called on the public to converge at designated points for the protest slated for Tuesday, December 10, 2024.
In a post on X on Sunday, Sowore also wrote, “An unjust act of oppression cannot stand no matter how ‘well presented’ that it was done under the color of law!
“On December 10, 2024, in Lagos, Abuja, Ado-Ekiti, Benin City, Toronto, and the city of London, the people intoxicated by power will be confronted by the power of the people!”
