Jide Babalola, the senior special assistant to Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege on print media, has discredited allegation of gender discrimination levelled against him by House of Representatives member Tolulope Akande-Sadipe.
Mr Babalola and the lawmaker clashed at a public elevator at the National Assembly on Thursday. The incident got him detained by the police on the orders of Akande-Sadipe.
Babalola, however, said in a statement that he had been released on bail and told he might be invited anytime soon.
The journalist described Akande-Sadipe’s action as “logically incongruous”, saying she exercised “arbitrary use of power by ordering a citizen’s detention and later, playing the gender card.”
“About nine of us were in a public elevator (NOT the ones specially meant for Honourable members) and being very conscious of others’ spaces, it was a shock to hear angry outbursts coming from someone who was sideways and behind me. Although I later got to know that she is a member of the House, I was taken aback that the Honourable member was part of what became a crowded elevator and briefly gave me anxieties in view of a n encounter with Covid-19 in August 2020.
“From the third floor, we rode the elevator downstairs and the really aggressive outbursts only increased till she drew the attention of some visiting officials, one of whom insisted that I apologize to calm things down. Without being guilty, I apologized and someone close by pleaded with her ‘in the name of God’ but Honourable Sadipe insisted that she was rejecting all apologies. She followed me towards the exit and called on security agents to ‘hold him until I return’. Where she was going to in the city or what time she was coming back was not known to anyone!” he said.
Babalola also knocked Akande-Sadipe’s media aide Olufemi Olusada.
“How dare he talk about ‘speaking up against the discrimination of women and harassment women face in Nigeria’ when the sole agenda is to mislead the public and probably end up affirming hardliners’ disbelief about the wholesomeness of gender rights,” he said.
Babalola added that he would continue to believe in human rights, the rule of law, gender rights and all other essential ingredients of genuine democracy.
