Columnist Duke Of Shomolu Shares His Encounter With Legal Luminary Afe Babalola SAN

This is a must read writeup...

This is a detailed piece of mindblowing events that occurred after Joseph Edgar (A.k.a The Duke Of Shomolu) wrote a critical piece against Legal Luminary Afe Babalola...This writeup is so interesting, it will blow you away.....

He wrote..

''My encounter with Chief Afe Babalola
Chief Afe Babalola is a god make no mistake about it.
His godship is even more profound in Ekiti state where he is the largest tax payer, largest employer of labour and simply the spirit behind the state.

In Nigeria, he is still a god has his stature can only be eclipsed by his bosom friend Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who is a little bit lower than Jesus in the scheme of things

Any how, I had written a very critical piece against daddy after he was said to have donated a huge sum of money to a British University.
A few weeks after, the MD of thisday sent me a letter on whats app

I opened it and it was from Ekiti State Police command saying that my name had been mentioned in a criminal defamation case reported by the Chief Afe Babalola people.
I say Aghhh.. Me?. I immediately called Editor my brother Davidson. That one start to laugh.
Edgar, oya dey go Ekiti make dem help me beat you small, he joked.

Seriously, I asked mbok wetin concern wetin I write for Lagos with Ekiti.
Davidson say I shd just go with the lord.
As I always do in times of crises, I started working my phones.

First I must neuatralise the police.
I called Sanjo Lawal my boy at Command who called an AiG who was our junior to help prepare a soft landing.
He said i shd not go to Ekiti but that i shd get a lawyer to write to the CP to buy time while we devolve a strategy .
I called Niran, the brilliant head of Ekiti Revenue service. Niran said I shd come to Ekiti that I shd not be afraid that he would join me to go see baba

I say my brother, wait I will come, let me finish building my support system.
Niran got me a lawyer and we briefed him and he agreed to go the next morning on my behalf.
I say tell them say I dey purge say I go soon come
Then I called Bolanle Austen Peters his daughter. She was initially upset with me but agreed to talk to her father.
I called her husband who also fired me but also jumped into the matter
Then I called Bode Olanipekun SAN who called Chief's Son who also said I shd just write an alology and go to Ekiti

Then I called Akin Rotimi member of House of Rep who gave me access to the states Chief Security Officer of the state who also promised to work on the police.
Shebi na Nigeria we all dey na, oya make we work the strings together na.
By this time, I was sufficiently calm cos Bode had come back that Baba had been reached but had said they should come back after his siesta.

Then I went back to the article . I didnt call him a thief o, I only just said donating that kind of money in a country that didnt need it as against a country that had over 30m children out of school was......
I no go talk the words I used before dey come for me again o..
By 8pm Bolanle had reached me that she had reached her dad and he was open to meeting with me.

To finally make sure I had totally smothered the fire, I reached Chief Obasanjos people who reached him in Ethiopia.
He said they shoud tell me to go and -+'hide' in his abeokuta house till he came back.
This gave me huge confidence that even if I was thrown into alcatraz, I will be going on my own conditions

Then i got my man Seyi involved. Seyi called Baba Ijebus CSO who got the Ekiti CP who gave us his words that I would be given a soft landing since 'Baba is our father'
Then I called Chief Fani Kayode who offered to speak to the Governor for further support and I thanked him for his offer.
Then someone from Babas media team called and we had a nice convo and agreed on date to appear - just say sorry when you come and I said yes sir.

Then I spoke with Air Vicr Marshall Makinde Rtd to provide further support and firepower in case I needed to shoot my way out of the place and i was set for my journey.
Dday arrived. I cndt sleep that night as I was tossing and turning fearful that what if everything goes wrong and im whisked away to Gashua. Kai

Dday came and Niran sent in police escort to come pick me in Lagos and we moved.
Stopped at Ife to eat Amala and continued with the journey.
On the way, I kept calling his people and they kept reassuring me that Daddy had cooled down.
We entered Ekiti and rendervouzed at Nirans office and agreed to the plan
Niran is the head of the delegation , his in-law will join and we will carry some of his relations who work in the University to join the begging party.

We arrived and they asked us to come back that Baba was having his siesta.
We went back and they ushered us in.
The office was huge and intimidating. He was on his table in a suit and his cowboy hat on its stand.

Niran and team went straight to the floor in prostration and I joined- Kabiyesi oooo we all echoed
Niran started talking in Yoruba. Niran is a preacher and a well versed yoruba man so he combined both and with proverbs massaged baba for me

Then Baba asked to see me and I stood up and he said I shd go and cut my hair and come back.
We went out for a quick meeting cos the team knew that, I will enter dt prison bf I cut the hair.
We agreed to get a skull cap, which would cover the hair and dts what we did.

We went back to see him and went back on the floor and he started.
For one hour plus, he took us thru Nigerian history, his role in it and why he made the donations.

He was quite emotional and upset at the same time.
I begged. We begged. I begged. We begged and finally he calmed down and gave all of us money in an envelope

When I checked my own outside , it was N50k and I asked Niran how much he got, N50k too and i was upset
Na me bring all of us here and na me risk jail time, why we go all get the same amount
Niran begged me to better lets run away bf the baba change him mind 
Baba Babalola in his mid 90s have won the grace to be left alone.
He is singularly one of the greatest ever living Nigerians, so looking for his trouble is not something we shd subscribe to.

There are many others we can be abusing. We never abuse Tinubu finish or Gbaja or even Keyamo, make we leave baba Afe alone
He deserves full respect
Thank u''
*Duke of Shomolu*

 

The Duke of Shomolu is the pen name of Joseph Edgar, a Nigerian columnist, theatre producer, and investment banker. He writes for Thisday Newspapers, reaching over 100,000 people every Sunday