Nigerian activist and lawyer Dele Farotimi has stated that he is still considering his legal options despite the withdrawal of criminal charges against him.

Speaking on The Duke Rants podcast, published on YouTube on Saturday, Farotimi was asked what he would say if he met Chief Afe Babalola today. He responded, “Like a good Yoruba boy, I’ll give him his salutations. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m still considering my options regarding what to do about what I went through.”

When pressed for details, he said, “All the areas of options that are open to a person who was unlawfully kidnapped from his office, hauled before a magistrate for a non-existent crime.”

Farotimi criticised the process of his arrest, alleging that law enforcement officials violated legal procedures.

“Policemen crossed five state lines, entered a sixth state — from Ekiti to Ondo, to Osun, to Oyo, to Ogun, and then crossed into Lagos. Somebody has to explain the basis of my incarceration for 21 days,” he said.

His legal troubles began after Babalola petitioned the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, alleging defamation in Farotimi’s book, 'Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System.'

Farotimi was subsequently arrested and arraigned before an Ekiti State Magistrate Court for criminal defamation and before the Federal High Court in Ado Ekiti for alleged cyber-bullying.

On January 27, Babalola withdrew his petition following interventions by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and other traditional rulers. However, Farotimi revealed that he still faces four separate lawsuits filed by members of Babalola’s law office across different states.

“My inability to speak to certain aspects of this issue is borne out of the fact that, despite the discontinuation of the criminal proceeding, I still have four suits that I am aware of, in four different states of the federation, filed by members of the same law office, against my person,” he said.

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Farotimi defended his book, insisting it was based on research and personal experience rather than falsehoods. “I wrote a book. Let us deal with veracity. Anybody can go and read and then come back and challenge me with the lie that I have told,” he said.

He maintained that the controversy was not about his personal reputation but about Nigeria’s legal system.

“This is not a trial of Dele Farotimi. Let nobody make that error. It is a trial of the legal system that we have built as a collective,” he stated.

Farotimi also stressed that his book was not a personal attack on Babalola but a critique of corruption in the judiciary.

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“Chief Afe Babalola is more than old enough to be my father. I did not set out to destroy the man or to tarnish his image. Nothing personal. I was writing about the institution of the judiciary,” he said.