A magistrate court in Ekiti has granted rights lawyer Dele Farotimi a N50 million bail over defamation allegations.

Omoyele Sowore, the 2023 African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, announced this on his X handle on Monday.

“Dele Farotimi was granted bail of N50 million naira surety in the like sum with someone with landed property. The case was adjourned to 29 January 2025,” Mr Sowore tweeted.

Mr Farotimi is standing trial over defamation allegations preferred against him by the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Afe Babalola.

Mr Babalola had deployed the police to brutalise and arrest Mr Farotimi on December 3 over a defamation allegation, the rights lawyer was also transported from Lagos to Ekiti —where the nonagenarian wields significant influence— on a five-hour road trip.

In his sought-after treatise “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System”, Mr Farotimi revealed how the legal luminary won services cases using corrupt strategies.

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 besieged the site with orders to read the damning accusations of corruption levelled against Mr 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.