ABUJA – Nigeria’s Federal High Court in the capital Abuja has issued an ex-parte order stopping the production and distribution of “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System”, a book written by human rights lawyer Dele Farotimi.
The book has been a topic of heated debate due to its allegations of judicial manipulation and recently became a global bestseller in the politics category on Amazon platform.
The controversy surrounding the book, which initially saw low sales after its release in July, has made it a bestseller on Amazon within three days of its author’s incarceration as curious Nigerians abroad – besieged the site with orders to read the damning accusations of corruption levelled against Babalola.
The book has also sold out in popular stores like Tinu-Ade Bookshop in Ibadan and VIC Bookstore in Abuja, where Nigerians have trooped to purchase it.
The book buttressed a longstanding public suspicion that Babalola was among those befouling the Nigerian judicial by corrupting judges with cash and material bribes to influence judges from lower courts to the Supreme Court.
Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) had deployed armed policemen to brutalise and arrest Farotimi on December 3 over a defamation allegation. The human rights lawyer was also transported from Lagos to Ekiti —where the nonagenarian wields significant influence— on a five-hour road trip.
On the following day he was arraigned before a Magistrate Court in Ado-Ekiti for alleged criminal defamation of Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria – in the book, “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System”.
The book accused Babalola of manipulating the judiciary to secure favourable rulings for his clients.
The allegations have not only attracted significant public interest but have also put the legal icon in the spotlight with growing condemnation for his use of the police to harass Farotimi.
However, the court order was requested and obtained by Afe Babalola, and demands that all sales and distribution of the book, both physical and digital copies, be stopped immediately.
In the suit No. CV/5372/24 filed before the court by Kehinde Ogunwumiju, SAN, the Head of Afe Babalola’s law firm, and dated December 6, 2024, the plaintiff also sought a directive to seize any royalties generated from the book’s sales.
The court granted an interlocutory injunction restraining Farotimi and all affiliated parties from further distributing the book.
The injunction read: “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 however 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.
“An order of interlocutory injunction directing the seizure of all physical copies of the book authored by the defendant/respondent titled, ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System’n wherever they may be.”
The legal move to block the book’s sale and distribution may be connected to its soaring global popularity, with critics and readers alike praising its bold exposé of Nigeria’s criminal justice system.
Meanwhile, distributors have stopped the sale of the book.
According to a source who demanded 10 copies of the book, he told investigative news outlet SaharaReporters on Wednesday that he was told that henceforth the store in Abuja had ceased all sales of the book from their stores.
“Our attention has been drawn to an injunction sought against the sale of the book in bookstores sought by a SAN in Abuja in which our Company named was listed. Henceforth we have ceased all sales of the book from our stores,” the source quoted the text the vendor sent to him when he requested for the book.
A Wikileaks classified United States diplomatic cable had exposed how Afe Babalola and former president Olusegun Obasanjo, way back in 2004 allegedly purchased a Court of Appeal ruling that ensured the then Adamawa State governor, Boni Haruna, remained in office.
According to the US diplomatic cable, an attorney for then Governor Haruna, who worked for Afe Babalola, confirmed that the favourable ruling by the Court of Appeal “was ensured in typical Nigerian fashion: with cash.”
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