A From My Window Satire

There are days when satire becomes difficult to write because reality has already done all the work.

Friday, August 21, 2026, appears to have been one of those days in Edo State.

An individual widely identified as a Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Digital Media announced to the world that Afrobeats superstar Davido had been banned from coming to Edo State to perform.

Not content with issuing what sounded remarkably like an executive proclamation, the gentleman reportedly went further. Davido, he suggested, might receive a rather unconventional dental procedure involving angry youths and slaps should he disregard the “ban.”

Some Edo people understandably began wondering when the State Government acquired powers over passports, immigration and freedom of movement.

Others were more concerned about the dentistry.

But before we could finish asking whether the Edo State Executive Council had created a Ministry of Musician Entry, Exit and Dental Enforcement, another communication arrived.

This time, it came from the Commissioner for Information and Strategy.

There is no ban, we were told.

Excellent.

The Commissioner then reportedly described whoever was behind such a proclamation as an “impostor,” “fraud” and “enemy of Edo State.”

Wonderful.

Except for one tiny problem.

The person whose proclamation the Government was repudiating has been publicly identified as an aide to the Governor.

And that is where ordinary Edo people may require some assistance.

If the man is an impostor, who appointed him?

If he is not an aide to the Governor, why has he been operating publicly with that designation?

If he is an aide to the Governor, how does an aide become an impostor merely because the Government suddenly finds his statement embarrassing?

And if the Commissioner for Information is the official voice of Government, why are political appointees apparently running competing broadcasting stations from their phones?

Welcome to Edo State, where Government communication sometimes resembles a family WhatsApp group in which everybody is an administrator.

One person announces government policy.

Another person cancels it.

A third may soon explain that the person who announced it never existed.

At this rate, Davido may need less clarification than Edo people themselves.

Perhaps what we need urgently is a daily bulletin:

WHO SPEAKS FOR GOVERNMENT TODAY?

Monday: Commissioner for Information.

Tuesday: Chief Press Secretary.

Wednesday: Special Adviser.

Thursday: SSA Digital Media.

Friday: Nobody knows.

Saturday: Previous statements are hereby disowned.

Sunday: Government observes a day of rest from clarification.

Funny as this episode may appear, however, there is a serious issue beneath the comedy.

Government communication is not entertainment.

Political appointees carrying the title of Special Adviser, Senior Special Assistant or Special Assistant derive credibility from their association with the Governor. When they speak publicly on matters concerning the administration, citizens and journalists reasonably assume that their words have some connection with Government.

That is precisely why appointments come with responsibility.

You cannot give people government titles, allow them to parade themselves as representatives of an administration and then, whenever their statements become inconvenient, simply declare them impostors.

The bigger question is therefore not whether Davido can come to Edo State.

Of course, Davido is not the issue.

The issue is whether anybody is actually coordinating the public communication of the Edo State Government.

Who approves statements?

Who defines policy?

Who disciplines aides who exceed their authority?

And most importantly:

Who speaks for Governor Monday Okpebholo?

Edo people deserve a Government whose officials communicate with clarity, discipline and dignity.

We cannot have one arm of Government lighting a fire in the morning and another arm arriving in the evening with a bucket of water while insisting that the person holding the matches is an impostor.

There is already enough confusion in everyday life.

Government should not become another source of it.

So perhaps before anybody bans Davido from Edo State, the administration should consider something considerably more urgent:

Ban disorder from Government communication.

Because Davido can always sing somewhere else.

But Edo people cannot relocate every time their Government contradicts itself.

From My Window, the comedy is entertaining.

Unfortunately, the subject is governance.

Chris Osa Nehikhare
Publisher, From My Window