By Dr. Ope Banwo
Funke Akindele is a friend and a former client and against the natural instinct to defend a friend, even I could understand why she needed to be arrested and made an example of to underscore the seriousness of Coronavirus for everyone else. Unfortunately.
She is a very big public figure, possibly one of the top three biggest Yoruba actor/actress in our country in terms of reach and influence, and should have known better
She is an ambassador for Dettol disinfectant, and even the government on different occasions, ironically including NCDC itself, and should know better that she is a role model that can help or hurt public policy with her actions, no matter how innocent. Its was an error of judgment, she has already regretted. So, let’s not pile on.
Funke herself posted evidence of herself violating the law on social with, she posted evidence, complete with pictures and videos. That action suggested a lack of appreciation of the seriousness of the need for social distancing that many are unfortunately guilty of. Including many of those now hypocritically condemning her all over social media.
Her initial lukewarm, self-justifying apology after the complaints broke also didn’t help matters. I put that one on her handlers. They should have guided her better. For instance, I would have insisted on a total unqualified apology for the error of judgement, with no excuse and a self offer of serious community service and aid for victims of coronavirus.
So, while I am sad this happened, this is not a defense of my friend. She has apologized and pleaded guilty for her mistake.
Hopefully, the judge will be merciful and Funke will just be sentenced to Community Service, instead of jail, since she has really been a good community person, always helping with major enlightenment projects. We all must agree that Funke does have a large heart and has earned some public credits that could be applied to this mistake.
Funke does not deserve jail for this in my opinion. The public humiliation and loss of endorsements this will bring is more than enough in my objective opinion…
Having said that, I also think the NCDC AND THE COURT AND THE PRESS needed to be called out for violating the same self-distancing law she has been arraigned for.
Yes, as you can see in the pictures and videos of the chaotic court scene, that NCDC agents, police and the courts themselves were GUILTY OF THE SAME OFFENCE of not observing social distance!
Look at the video and pictures of that court hour. The officers claiming Funke violated social-distancing rules were themselves jostling into each other with no space. They crowded the doorway and crammed the court. They are packed like sardines in court and the photographers were basically spitting on each other in that court scene.
So who is going to arrest the Judge, the police officers, and the press for the same offense? SMH. It just shows we ALL need more education and sensitivity on this Corona thing.
Its not a joke. People are dying of this thing and everyone needs to be more vigilant. Let’s stop the finger-pointing. Most of us are no better. We are getting away with it because we have no celebrity status.
Dr. Ope Banwo writes from Omaha, United States of America.
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