August 27, 2026
As should be expected in this political silly season, politicians will maximise the window to test wild narratives and launch personal attacks aimed at distracting voters from the substantive issues that confront them. There is nothing particularly wrong with that as long as such antics are within the ambit of the law. But most Nigerian politicians like stretching the limits of such propositions. The result is that politicians are now banning others from straying into their self-appropriated fiefdom with impunity, knowing that there will be no consequences. To be fair, such bullying tactics didn’t start today. But it has worsened because political buccaneers, who exploit public office for personal gain, would rather break bones than play by the rules. In this malfeasance, Edo State takes the cake.
Despite the fact that the 1999 Nigerian Constitution guarantees freedom of movement, a fundamental human right, some political actors, mostly governors and their cheerleaders, don’t care a hoot. They have become exceedingly brazen in their conducts and highly contemptuous of fellow citizens. Last week, one Apostle Kassy Chukwu, a Senior Special Assistant to Governor Monday Okpebholo, the Akpakomiza of Edo politics, purportedly banned Afrobeats star David Adeleke, popularly called Davido, from ever visiting Edo again. “David, we don’t want to see you for Edo State again. If we catch you, if we see you for airport, go there, boys, make sure that you slap, they remove your teeth for you,” Okpebholo’s aide threatened on social media. It is now a fad to ban law abiding citizens for moving around free in the country. So, what was Davido’s crime? Nothing other than the fact that he exercised his constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech by responding to the theatrics of Governor Okpebholo, a political interloper in Osun, his home state.
