Afe Babalola & Co, an Ibadan, Oyo State-based legal firm, has vowed to take all legal steps to address the allegations made by social critic, Dele Farotimi, against their founder, Aare Afe Babalola SAN.
The legal firm stated in a statement that the legal step being taken remains the only way to address the falsity of Farotimi’s allegations to hold him accountable for the deliberate assault on the integrity and reputation of the legal luminary.
The firm also vowed to use all means within the law, to protect the integrity, reputation of Aare Babalola, built through hard work, legal knowledge and trenchant advocacy and passed on to them over the past seven decades.
Lawyers at the firm stated this in reaction to the allegations by Farotimi which they said were aimed at tarnishing the integrity and reputation of their principal.
The firm, in a statement signed by Senior Partner, Afe Babalola & Co, Mr Adebayo Adenipekun SAN, stated that necessary step within the ambit of the law must be taken to hold Mr Farotimi to account for his alleged deliberate assault on the integrity and reputation of the law firm and its founder.
The statement reads: “Afe Babalola & Co appreciates everyone who has telephoned, messaged, defended and identified with us concerning the attempt by one Mr Dele Farotimi to tarnish the hard-earned reputation which we have built over several decades.
“We acknowledge several concerns and suggestions on this subject and the inference that the firm and its members would better served by ignoring these published falsehoods.
“However, if we do not take any action to correct the false, reckless and malicious statements by this author, our silence will necessarily be interpreted as an admission of guilt.
“Afe Babalola & Co is a law-abiding organisation that operates strictly within the law. We are aware of the implications of the steps we are taking and the possibility of spin and manipulation of this author, his acolytes, uninformed members of the public and others who like him view us maliciously.
“Still, we are convinced that the legal steps we take now and in the future are the only way to address the falsity of the author’s allegations and hold him to account for this deliberate assault on the integrity and reputation that our founder, Aare Afe Babalola OFR, CFR, SAN , LLD, has built and passed on to us over the past seven decades, using nothing but hard work, legal knowledge and trenchant advocacy.
“The constitution recognises fundamental human rights and our firm has championed these rights for over sixty years of its existence.
However, these rights are not absolute. The freedom to speak is not freedom from consequence of speech. And the subject of speech also has a fundamental right to hold the speaker accountable using lawful means.
“Since the matter is sub-judice, we do not intend to join issues in the media on the merits of our complaints or the strength of evidence against Mr Farotimi.
“Unlike him, we believe in the justice delivery system every time-not only when it favours us. In six decades of litigating cases across Nigeria, we have encountered several lawyers who prevailed against us in courts.
“Their existence disproves Mr Farotimi’s wild accusations and indicates that, at the end of this process, only the law will matter-not media tactic or street yelling.”
