Thorough investigation is required in both cases to establish the truth
Amidst the global scare of new strains of the COVID-19 virus ravaging the world with increased deaths and hospitalisations, the New Year came with a cocktail of alleged sex scandals by two highly placed men in Nigeria. Adam Nuru, Managing Director of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) was alleged to have had an affair with the wife of a member of the staff of the bank, late Tunde Thomas’ allegedly estranged wife, Moyo Thomas, who is said to have gone to the United States with the two children alleged to have been products of the affair with her MD.
The management of the bank has seemingly been dealing with the collateral damage of the scandal that went viral on different media platforms. The bank had issued a statement informing the public that the MD had proceeded on a voluntary leave to give the management time to thoroughly investigate the alleged scandal. Unfortunately, Tunde Thomas is dead and as such cannot speak for himself, and the wife has not spoken yet.
Much of all the trending stories had come from third parties and, sadly, those in the centre of the alleged affair have not given the public the true facts of the case, backed with concrete evidence. Without prejudice to whatever might be the facts of the case, we belief that members of the staff of any organisation must abide by certain ethical guidelines and moral codes. We equally believe that the public must be careful about being the investigator, prosecutor and judge of cases of this nature.
We would expect that in an age of technology, the issue of paternity should not be left in the realm of speculation and must be a private affair of those involved. Again, the public or the purveyors of the stories went as far as calling for the resignation of the Mr. Nuru with no evidence from a competent court of any wrongdoing. Some even went as far as advising customers to close their accounts with FCMB. This, to us, is a tad too extreme and looks like throwing the baby away with the bath water. Did the people think of the jobs that might be lost if the bank closes down or even the attacks that the bank might suffer in such a volatile period like we have with the effects of this pandemic?
Again, repeatedly publishing the pictures of the minors at the centre of the allegation is totally wrong and very unethical for those that did so. Minors are supposed to be protected by law and the United Nations treaties on the Rights of the Child. We believe that whatever the case, the children did not choose to be in the world by themselves, they must not be scarred by the alleged ‘sins’ of some adults.
The story that the late Tunde died of heart attack due to the alleged scandal is just hearsay because no autopsy and or forensic post- mortem examination had been conducted to prove the allegation. The fact that he already had a fiancé who is again, alleged to be pregnant before he died again puts the child to be born on another cross of the public which, again, ought not to be.
We do not condone any unethical behaviour by any individual no matter his or her status; in fact, we believe that such individuals must face the full wrath of the law, given that, as Caesar’s wife, such people are supposed to be beyond reproach. However, social or orthodox media-lynching is an ill-wind that blows no one any good, and we go by the legal mantra that it is better to free 20 guilty thieves than to punish one innocent human. That is how weighty the scale of justice can tilt for the good of our world.
The second scandal involves the Commissioner for Environment in Ogun State, Abiodun Abdul-Balogun, for allegedly sexually harassing a 16-year-old student whose viral video of her narrative went viral, again, in the social media. Her uncle, Lasisi Saheed, confirmed taking Barakat to the commissioner’s place, following the girl’s allegation that she was sexually harassed by the commissioner.
We however find it curious that the uncle admitted taking the teenager to the commissioner and that a staff took her into the house to meet the man and that she came out with the Mariam Eniola after about five to 10 minutes. It is curious that an uncle took the girl to the place that she alleged she was sexually harassed. A lot of questions need to be answered.
While we support the suspension of the commissioner by the Ogun State government pending a thorough investigation, we must add that all the characters in the drama must be summoned by the police to say all they know about the incident. The truth and intentions of all involved must be investigated.
We commend the Ogun State government for taking prompt action and affirming that it believes the man can only be declared guilty or innocent by the investigators. We are however skeptical about the sanctity of the evidence that might have helped the investigators. In developed countries, all involved in the story might have been immediately quarantined so that evidence for DNA and fingerprint tests could help in finding out the truth about the allegation.
Again, we fear that the commissioner might be considered guilty by the raging mob without concrete evidence. While we have no proof to doubt the video made after the alleged act, in cases like this, hard evidence would have solved the case if it had been promptly handled and evidence taken without its being tampered with.
We are however happy that more awareness about sexual impropriety is daily being created by the new media that brings incidents like these to the fingertips. However, we plead caution in handling such sensitive and life-changing incidents so that only the guilty gets punished. The symbol of justice is a blindfolded woman with a scale for a reason. Let truth always be unearthed and justice done and seen to have been done so that we can have a better society.
