Sources: How Ooni of Ife convinced Afe Babalola to ‘forgive’ activist Dele Farotimi - Infopalavanews

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Tuesday, 28 January 2025

Sources: How Ooni of Ife convinced Afe Babalola to ‘forgive’ activist Dele Farotimi

 


The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, on Sunday, led a high-profile delegation of Yoruba monarchs to the home of legal luminary and founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), to persuade him to drop the criminal defamation case filed against human rights lawyer and activist, Dele Farotimi.


The Ooni’s intervention came after hours of deliberation led by the Chairman of the Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers, Oba Ayorinde Ilori Faboro, and other first-class monarchs, who held a closed-door meeting with Babalola while awaiting the arrival of Oba Ogunwusi.


Addressing Babalola at the expanded meeting, the Ooni appealed for clemency, noting the unity and respect within the Yoruba race.


“The gentleman we are talking about here is your son. He is a Yoruba man too, Dele Farotimi. Baba, nobody can tarnish your name,” Ooni said.


“A child will respect their parents, the parents will respect the elders, the elders will respect the king, and the king will respect ancestors and God, who is the King of kings. That is the structure of we Yoruba,” The Guardian quoted the monarch as saying.


He urged Babalola to drop the case, noting that such a gesture would benefit the Yoruba people and posterity.


In his response, Babalola acknowledged the efforts of prominent figures who had appealed to him in the past, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Bishop Matthew Kukah, whose entreaties he previously declined.


He, however, admitted that the presence of the Ooni and other monarchs swayed him.


“When I heard that Ooni was coming and the Obas were waiting for him, there is nothing I am going to gain by his imprisonment or from any so-called damages,” Babalola said.


According to Otunba Moses Olafare, the Director of Media and Public Affairs at the Ooni’s Palace, the decision to pursue an Alternative Dispute Resolution method is in line with the Yoruba tradition of resolving disputes amicably, particularly in cases involving members of the same community.


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