When Advocacy Becomes Sensationalism: A Cautionary Note to Dr. Oby Ezekwesili

By Adeniran Taiwo Olugbenga

Dr. Oby Ezekwesili’s recent memo to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while rooted in an admirable concern for justice and civic integrity, sadly crosses the thin but critical line between principled advocacy and unchecked sensationalism. At a time when clarity, evidence, and due process are desperately needed in our democratic discourse, her write-up blurs the lines between allegation and fact, emotion and logic, activism and accuracy. And for someone of her immense stature and influence, such a misstep does more harm than good.

To begin with, it is disheartening that Dr. Ezekwesili, who has spent a career championing institutional reforms and the sanctity of process, now lends her voice to a narrative that prematurely assumes guilt, assigns conspiracy without proof, and sidesteps the most fundamental responsibility in any allegation—burden of proof.

To say the Senate President has “flagrantly abused his powers” without a single court judgment, without an independent inquiry, and without the accuser even filing a lawsuit on the core claim of sexual harassment, is reckless. This isn’t advocacy; it’s pre-judgment dressed in eloquent outrage.

Even more troubling is the manipulation of public sympathy by elevating Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to the status of a national symbol of oppression, without demanding from her the moral courage and civic responsibility to seek legal redress through appropriate judicial channels. The defamation suits may have generated headlines, but they are distractions—both in law and in logic. If the allegation of sexual harassment is true, the noblest path is not public lamentation or Twitter activism, but legal accountability. The courts exist not to serve as dramatic stages but as instruments of justice. The real question, which Dr. Ezekwesili conveniently omits, is why Senator Natasha has continued to dodge this responsibility while fanning public sentiment on secondary issues.

This is not to say that the Nigerian state or its institutions are above criticism—far from it. But when we begin to assume that every institution, every court adjournment, and every prosecutorial move is evidence of coordinated political persecution, we are not strengthening democracy. We are undermining it. When Dr. Ezekwesili refers to a court filing as “subterranean” or dramatizes alleged police presence without verifiable facts, she stirs public anxiety without offering clarity. And in doing so, she sets a dangerous precedent: that emotion can override procedure, and that sympathy can replace evidence.

Perhaps most alarming is her framing of this incident as a battle between “reasonable Nigerians” and a “callous political class.” This sort of binary division—where one side is morally righteous and the other inherently evil—reduces a complex democratic issue to shallow populism. Nigeria’s struggle is not between saints and demons; it is between systems that work and those that don’t. If we want to improve our institutions, we must respect their processes even when they are imperfect. If we want to fight abuse of power, we must do so with facts, not fury.

It is also deeply disappointing that Dr. Ezekwesili, an icon of gender advocacy, does not call out the missed opportunity here for institutional precedent. A real sexual harassment case, prosecuted properly, could have rewritten the rules for how such allegations are treated in our political space. Instead, we are fed hashtags and emotional declarations. This trivializes what should be a turning point for victims of abuse, and sends the wrong message to both young girls and boys—that claims alone, without substantiation, are enough to destroy or deify.

This is a dangerous path. If we allow political popularity or gender identity to shield anyone from accountability—or to weaponize allegation without proof—we erode the very justice we claim to defend. If we vilify courts when they don’t bend to our narrative, we become what we protest against.

Dr. Ezekwesili owes it to Nigerians, especially the young minds that admire her, to do better. To elevate the conversation, not cheapen it with emotional hyperbole. To demand justice, yes—but justice rooted in fact, law, and fair process. The real courage today lies not in shouting the loudest, but in insisting that no matter how powerful or sympathetic the figure, no one is above scrutiny—and no one is condemned without proof. That is the democracy we should all be fighting for.

Written by: Adeniran Taiwo Olugbenga
(A Citizen Who Refuses to be Silent or Manipulated)