There are moments when the mask slips, and the arrogance of power is laid bare for all to see. That is exactly what happened when Kayode Opeifa, Managing Director of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, unleashed a torrent of abuse on NTA journalist Ladi Bala. She was not heckling him. She was not out of line. She was simply doing her job, fulfilling her duty as a reporter to keep Nigerians informed. And for that, Opeifa interrupted her live report to be rewarded with humiliation.
Opeifa’s caustic vituperations were chilling in their venom: “You are stupid. Your management is stupid. Foolish woman. Look at you, you are not even properly dressed. Useless. Who is watching NTA?”
These are not the words of a leader. They are the words of a bully. They are not just insults; they are an assault on the press, a desecration of press freedom, and nothing short of gender violence. Opeifa’s tirade was a bullying of womanhood itself: verbal abuse, emotional abuse, and sheer disrespect for a female professional carrying out her constitutional duty.
Sadly, this arrogance is not unique to Opeifa. It reflects a worrisome, entrenched culture among top government officials and political office holders in Nigeria: treating journalists with disdain, as if power elevates them above accountability.
I recall, as a reporter years ago, attending a press conference fixed for 9am. Journalists arrived early; the politician showed up at 12 noon, three hours late. Instead of apologising, he threatened to report those who had left to their employers. That is the mentality: power as intimidation, never service.
But public office is not a throne. It is a call to serve. Yet 65 years after independence, some of our leaders still cling to the primitive notion of “princeps legibus solutus est”, that the ruler is above the law.
The NUJ deserves praise for rising swiftly in Bala’s defence. But this matter must not be swept under the carpet. Every time we excuse arrogance, we embolden tyranny. Every time we let such bullying pass, we betray democracy.
Kayode Opeifa must apologise; publicly, unreservedly, and immediately. Anything less is not just an insult to Ladi Bala, but an insult to every journalist, every woman, and every Nigerian.
Let this be the line we draw: enough of arrogance in office, enough of bullying the press, enough of treating women with disdain. Share this until Opeifa hears it, until the NUJ is heard, until those in power understand that Nigerians will no longer be silent.
#PressFreedom #NUJ #MediaFreedom #NigeriaAt65 #GenderViolence #RespectWomen #Accountability #KayodeOpeifa
