Bookstores across the country have started running out of stock of activist Dele Farotimi’s controversial book ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System’, due to the rush in demand to get details of how so-called incorruptible Afe Babalola allegedly corrupted the judiciary.

Stores such as Tinu-Ade Bookshop in Ibadan and VIC Bookstore in Abuja told Peoples Gazette on Wednesday that the book has sold out since the arrest of Mr Farotimi preoccupied national headlines.

Checks by The Gazette also revealed that the book was still trending on Amazon by Wednesday evening, as more and more Nigerians at home and abroad, as well as foreigners, searched for it, as well as on other platforms, to understand Mr Farotimi’s sensational allegations against Mr Babalola.

Mr Farotimi had, in the foreword of the book published July 2, 2024, detailing his sojourn in the legal system and the criminality therein that has affected its ability to deliver justice, indicted Mr Babalola for the rot in the judiciary, citing a case that once involved both of them at the Supreme Court.

Highlighting the case of Major Muritala Gbadamosi 8c Ors v. H.R.H Oba Tijani Akinloye & Ors, otherwise known as the Gbadamosi-Eletu case, Mr Farotimi alleged that Mr Babalola, “corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgment in the service of his clients.”

Enraged by the allegation, armed police from the Ekiti command at the behest of Mr Babalola, who, after intimidating Mr Farotimi’s friends and associates, invaded the activist’s Lagos office on Tuesday, made away with phones and other devices belonging to staff, threatened to kill them, before the cops whisked Mr Farotimi away to Ado-Ekiti.

Mr Farotimi was arraigned before the magistrate court in Ado-Ekiti on a 16-count charge of defamation of Mr Babalola, to which the activist pleaded not guilty. However, the magistrate, Abayomi Adeosun, denied him bail and remanded him in prison custody until December 10. 

Ironically, Mr Babalola had, in a publication on the website of Joseph Ayo Babalola University, discouraged squabbles between individuals being entertained in court, urging public interest to be considered. 

He also once donated millions of British pounds to advance human rights and education for African students at King’s College, London, United Kingdom. 

The 93-year-old has cut a reputation as one of the most notorious lawyers in Nigeria for decades, serving as personal counsel to dictators such as former military heads of state Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. 

However, following Nigeria’s return to civil rule in 1999, Mr Babalola’s influence broadened, which saw him secure legal contracts from then-President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007.