Learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, has said handcuffing a lawyer who is yet to be debarred and who still has his name on the roll of legal practitioners in Nigeria and who has not been known to be violent in conduct, is not only an abuse of criminal process, it is intolerably disgraceful.
There is uproar following the arraignment in handcuffs of Dele Farotimi, lawyer, author and member of Citizen’s Rally Against Oppression, in a case of defamation filed by Aare Afe Babalola.
Vanguard reports that Fatotimi, had written in the foreword of his book, ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’, outlined 10 claims alleging corruption and malpractice involving Babalola, his law firm, and other legal professionals.
According to Okutepa, SAN, it is a shame that Dele Farotimi is handcuffed for alleged cyberstalking or criminal defamation.
“No matter how uncivilised and unethical Dele Farotimi may have put down his thoughts, which injured the reputation of others, the treatment being meted to him while still a member of the noble profession is as worse as the alleged offence he may have committed,” he went on.
Perhaps, Okutepa is angry that “the legal profession in Nigeria has destroyed itself.”
He believes that “primitive vengeance being undertaken by police institutions in the manner being done to Dele Farotimi is not only damaging Dele Farotimi, but it is destroying the legal profession, and this show of shame is worse and has lowered the integrity and reputation of the legal profession more than the defamation complained of in the charge.”
