While activist lawyer Dele Farotimi, who drew fury from legal luminary Afe Babalola, remains in detention, his book, ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System,’ a raw and unfiltered account of his views about the Nigerian justice system, has become an Amazon bestseller.
Independently published on 2 July 2024, the book, which had experienced low sales until the author’s arrest, quickly gained traction, becoming an Amazon bestseller in less than 24 hours and claiming the top spot in the elections category.
It ranked ahead of ‘War’, a nonfiction book by journalist Bob Woodward, and Hilary Clinton’s ‘Something Lost, Something Gained’.
To be considered an “Amazon bestseller’’, a book must have sold more copies than the other books in its category at this particular time based on recent sales data.
The surge in sales and orders can be attributed to the public’s intense curiosity, particularly among the younger generation, who have only recently discovered Mr Farotimi’s name and book.
Roving Heights, a popular Nigerian bookshop, also announced that its website crashed due to “unusual traffic and a spike in demand for some titles.” It then asked customers to redirect all orders to its social media handles.
Many netizens have expressed their frustration at being unable to obtain Mr Farotimi’s book or e-copies on X and other social media platforms.
Background
Mr Farotimi was arrested in Lagos on Monday by policemen from Ekiti State and whisked to Ado Ekiti, where he was arraigned on Wednesday. There, an Ekiti State Chief Magistrates Court, Ado Ekiti Division, ordered that he be remanded in the state’s correctional centre over alleged defamation of character.
Among other things, Mr Farotimi alleged that Mr Babalola, a senior Nigerian advocate, had compromised the Supreme Court.
Chief Magistrate Abayomi Adeosun, after listening to the police prosecutor, Samson Osubu, who filed 16-count allegations to which Farotimi pleaded not guilty, adjourned the matter till 10 December 2024.
In the book, Mr Farotimi alleged that Mr Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgment in the service of his clients.
However, Mr Babalola vehemently denied the allegations in the book in his petition to the Ekiti State Police Command.
In the petition dated 9 November, Mr Babalola itemised 31 defamatory excerpts from the book, which he said had aroused the anger of right-thinking members of the society, particularly members of the legal profession, against him, his law firm and his lawyers.
