A sickening spectacle of power, greed and willful blindness, by Kayode Adebiyi

Only in a society where dignity has a price tag would a man in his sixties feel comfortable marrying a seventeen year old girl and showing her off like a prize he bought. This was never about affection or guidance. It was an arrangement fueled by money, status and zero concern for the emotional or mental wellbeing of a teenager.

Everyone involved should feel embarrassed.

Let us start with the man. A wealthy politician with wives and children already. With all his years on earth and all the experience he claims to have, he still chose to use money and influence to tie down a girl who was barely done with secondary school. That is not romance. It is manipulation. When a man that old and that powerful chases someone young enough to be his granddaughter, he is not looking for companionship. He is looking for control.

Then the mother. She agreed to the marriage. Instead of protecting her daughter, she treated the situation like a lucky break. She saw money and folded. It is bad enough when a predator circles. It is worse when the parent who is supposed to shield the child opens the gate and calls it destiny. Her decision paved the way for everything we are witnessing now.

And the public. They mocked the father who refused to sign off on the marriage. They called him a kill joy, a backward man standing in the way of his daughter’s chance to marry a senator. In a culture obsessed with titles and luxury, we have reached a point where morality is optional. If that girl had been auctioned off, some people would still clap as long as the buyer was wealthy and promised comfort.

Now the consequences are everywhere. Accusations of drug use. The girl claims he encouraged it because it made her look sexy. Allegations that he used his power to arrest and detain her brother for defending her. This is not a marriage. It is a mess. The girl, now twenty four, is carrying the weight of choices she was never mature enough to make. The man, old enough to be wise, is dragging his ego through the mud while trying to silence anyone who challenges him.

Still, the girl is not completely innocent. She knew what she was chasing. She embraced the lifestyle, the attention and the status that came with being the wife of a powerful man. She ignored warnings. She enjoyed the spotlight until it became too heavy to carry. Now she wants out and the same audience that applauded the wedding is eating popcorn watching the collapse.

There are no heroes here.

The man hid behind wealth and power.

The mother traded her child’s future for comfort.

The girl chose luxury without thinking ahead.

The crowd loved the drama more than the truth.

The only person who acted with integrity was the father who refused to endorse the madness. Instead of support, he was ridiculed.

Let us call this what is really is. Abuse of power. Parental failure. A community that has lost its moral compass.

A young woman should not become collateral damage in the decisions of greedy adults. A man in his sixties should not be collecting wives like souvenirs. No amount of money should erase the line between consent and coercion.

Everyone involved failed her. Now the disaster is unfolding in front of the world.

We do not need pity posts or shallow hashtags. We need accountability.

This union should never have happened.