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Sowore Criticizes Peter Obi’s Visit to Afe Babalola Over Dele Farotimi’s Detention
Human rights activist and former African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has sharply criticized Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for his recent visit to legal icon, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN.
Obi’s visit to Ekiti State on Monday wasn’t limited to his meeting with Afe Babalola.
He also took time to meet with detained lawyer and activist, Dele Farotimi, who has been embroiled in legal battles since his arrest.
Farotimi, a vocal critic of systemic corruption and the Nigerian legal system, has a history of challenging powerful figures and advocating for judicial reform.
His arrest, on allegations of defamation against Afe Babalola, has been widely viewed by activists as a tactic to silence dissent.
Farotimi was detained in Lagos last Tuesday before being charged before a magistrate court in Ado-Ekiti on a 16-count charge, primarily related to defamation.
The situation escalated further when, on December 6, the Nigerian police filed additional cybercrime charges against him at the Federal High Court in Ekiti.
On Monday, December 9, the court granted him bail to the tune of N50 million, a sum that his legal team is still working to meet.
Sowore’s criticism of Peter Obi’s visit was pointed and symbolic. In a post on his X handle (formerly Twitter), Sowore likened Obi’s actions to historical injustices, saying, “I condemn those who went to ‘beg’ Chief Afe Babalola today over the unjust detention and persecution of Dele Farotimi.
The delegation led by Peter Obi did colossal injustice to the struggle to drain the swamp of judicial criminality in our country.
Obi’s action is like forcing Rosa Parks to return to the back of the bus of racial injustice during the civil rights era in the United States! The struggle continues! #FreeDeleFarotimiNow.”
TV anchor Rufai Oseni makes headlines as he speaks on fuel subsidy in Nigeria. He shared that Nigeria can have fuel subsidy without the long queues at filling stations.
“When we were still paying subsidies, there were no long queues. We were subsidising. So you can still have a subsidy regime going on, and there will be no long queues because production was close by. Dangote had it. That’s just it. That argument also falls flat.
“The biggest beneficiaries of subsidy are not Nigerians. They are crony capitalists that have big infrastructure, and they do contracts. They have been the biggest beneficiaries of the subsidy,” he said.
Lagos State Governor, Sanwo-Olu, speaks to those in the electricity sector about the usual blackouts in the state.
He speaks on ways things can change in the state and how electricity can be provided.
“We need to drop corporate egos, abandon long-standing excuses, and confront the harsh realities obstructing progress in the power sector.”
“We, state governments, used to give excuses that everything is centralised, so the Federal Government has unbundled it now. What have we done in a year and a half?” Sanwo-Olu asked.
“We take two steps forward, we go five steps backward,” he said.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared Thursday, August 20, a work-free day for public servants in the state to mark the Isese Festival.
Speaking on the celebration, he said “Ìṣẹ̀ṣe is not a relic. It is a living expression of our traditions and a celebration of Yoruba spirituality as an important part of Nigeria’s cultural and religious landscape,” he said.
He added “When the drums sound in Lagos on Thursday, they answer drums in Havana, in Salvador, in Port of Spain. Fifty-five million people and counting. Lagos is not observing a local holiday. Lagos is standing at the centre of a global heritage,” Aregbe said.
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