Africa
Sowore’s Mind Games Vs. Basic Facts: Why Truth Still Matters -By Kelvin Adegbenga
So here is a simple call to action. Omoyele Sowore should stop inciting against judges and stop undermining institutions tasked with doing their work. Let the police investigate. Let the lawyers argue. Let the judges judge. If the facts are on your side, the law will speak for you. If they are not, no amount of mind-game narrative will change the result.
Omoyele Sowore has once again chosen spectacle over substance, spinning a familiar narrative of persecution that collapses the moment it meets basic, verifiable facts.
This time, he is framing the legal troubles of Maureen Badejo as some grand conspiracy, an abuse of “pastoral connections,” compromised judges, and shadowy emissaries, while deliberately ignoring the most inconvenient truth of all: a UK High Court has already found Maureen Badejo liable for defamation, awarded £100,000 in damages, and rejected her appeal. That is not an opinion. It is a binding judgement.
You cannot shout down a court ruling with hashtags. You cannot erase a judgement by calling it persecution. And you certainly cannot mislead people by pretending a concluded case never happened.
Let’s be clear. Police involvement in Nigeria is not about enforcing a pastor’s “connections.” It is about an independent criminal process arising from separate allegations under Nigerian law.
The police investigate criminal complaints; the state conducts prosecutions; and courts, independent courts, decide bail conditions and trial outcomes. Complainants do not set bail terms. Judges do. And in high-profile cases, strict bail conditions are not unusual; they are standard safeguards.
Sowore’s rhetoric thrives on insinuation. Words like “procured judges,” “emissaries,” and sweeping conspiracies are thrown about to inflame emotions and rally an online crowd. But speculation is not evidence. Noise is not proof. Courts do not rule on vibes; they rule on facts placed before them.
If Sowore genuinely cares about Maureen Badejo, the responsible path is obvious: urge competent legal representation and allow due process to run its course. What helps no one is stoking social media outrage, poisoning public discourse, and misleading followers into thinking that the courtroom is an enemy to be feared rather than a forum for truth.
In fact, Maureen should welcome her day in court. The courtroom is a controlled environment designed for evidence, documents, witnesses, cross-examination, not the trial-by-timeline that thrives on Facebook posts and viral clips.
He who has the evidence wins the case. Only those without evidence dread judicial scrutiny or seek to preempt judgement with online theatrics.
The irony is striking: those who loudly accuse courts of bias often do so before any verdict is delivered. That posture does not signal confidence; it signals anxiety. Only those who fear the outcome try to discredit the process in advance.
Maureen Badejo to pay ₦500 million to the MFM and its GO
“I cannot imagine a worse case of reckless defamation or evil use of the internet and social media,” the judge said.”
The above are words of the judge, Biodun Akinyemi, while delivering the judgment, also ordered Ms Badejo, the proprietor of Gio TV, to pull down and erase the offending online publications concerning the claimants from the internet.
The judge further ordered the blogger to tender a written apology and retraction of the offending publications prominently on social media and at least three national dailies.
“Watching and listening to the broadcasts when demonstrated in open court, I was taken aback at the reckless and defiant attitude of the defendant,” said the judge.
“What was more, it was a phone-in programme in which the defendant even granted audience to the public to make contributions on the information provided by her concerning the claimants.
“I cannot imagine a worse case of reckless defamation or evil use of the internet and social media. Considering the totality of the circumstances of this case, and in particular the conduct of the defendant, I am of the view that the claimants deserve to be substantially compensated in aggravated and exemplary damages.”
So here is a simple call to action. Omoyele Sowore should stop inciting against judges and stop undermining institutions tasked with doing their work. Let the police investigate. Let the lawyers argue. Let the judges judge. If the facts are on your side, the law will speak for you. If they are not, no amount of mind-game narrative will change the result.
Truth does not need a megaphone. It needs evidence.
Kelvin Adegbenga writes from Wuse 2, Abuja, Email: kelvinadegbenga@yahoo.com
