Embattled human rights activist, Dele Farotimi, on Sunday said that his battle axes have been sharpened, and his guns primed, ready for war as he faces his ongoing trial.
Farotimi said in a post on X that he’s strong enough to confront principalities and powers.
His arrest was a result of alleged defamation charges brought against him by prominent lawyer, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Afe Babalola (SAN), following the release of his book “Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System.”
A few weeks ago, a Chief Magistrate Court in Ado Ekiti had granted Farotimi N30 million bail. Farotimi was subsequently freed after meeting his bail conditions.
According to the post: “I am strong enough to rumble unruffled against principalities and powers, but I am human enough to retain the capacity to shed tears of joy in appreciation of the grace of God, expressed in the concerted efforts of fellow victims.
“My battle axes are newly sharpened, my guns primed, I am ready to war. My resolve was NEVER tested, but I was waiting for next round of the fight to commence.
“I KNEW that the first round had been lost by those responsible for my imprisonment.”
Meanwhile, in a heartfelt video message titled “The Road to Freedom” released on Sunday, Farotimi expressed his gratitude to Nigerians who rallied around him, saying their collective voice was the reason he didn’t become just another victim of the system.
Touching on the divisive nature of Nigerian society where people are often pitted against one another along ethnic and religious lines, Farotimi said none of that mattered as Nigerians united to fight him.
According to him: “We stopped being human because we became Nigerians. They divided us and we fell for it. Because you wouldn’t see me as a Yoruba man, you spoke for me, because you wouldn’t see me as a Christian, you spoke for me. Because you spoke, Nigeria couldn’t happen to me.
“The only reason why Nigeria couldn’t happen to me is because you spoke. That is why Nigeria couldn’t happen to me. You found your voices, I became you and in our collective, you couldn’t be silenced.”
“So it wasn’t me that became the porcupine, it was you – the Nigerian citizens – you have become the porcupine that is where we have gone to,” he said.
A tearful Farotimi continued, “First question I want you to ask yourself is how many of the people feeling the pain of the Nigerian state in detention or in prison deserve to be where they are? There are multiple people that I met in prison.
“Because we have so many high-profile cases or because Internet has brought it home to all of us. Let’s talk about Naomi the former queen, Oriyomi Hamzat, and Principal of Islamic High School Ibadan, Abdullahi Mfasasi.
“Exactly what is it that they have done that has earned them the need to be in prison? We should ask that question but not because of them but because of the many other persons without names that you and I have no knowledge of who are languishing in prison.
“Have you thought about that, that if they do that to those ones, what have they done to those ones nobody knows? They did it to me, you made it you and because you made it you, they couldn’t do it to me because our collective, acting together as one turns the tide.
“The tide turned because we acted as one. Some ‘Bulabas’ spoke for me, ‘Obidients’ spoke for me, my brother in the RevolutionNow movement (Omoyele Sowore), all of them spoke for me, traditional rulers – you all spoke and because you all spoke, I couldn’t be treated the way each and every one of the other persons who do not deserve to be in prison were treated.
“The system resisted. I spent 21 days in captivity. Those who are inclined to the things of spiritual knowledge understand the significance of 21 days. It pleases God that I should be kept in captivity for 21 days. A full cycle of a woman, a full cycle of modern nature – 21 days I was kept.”
