By Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
The shocking details of the Epstein Files have continued to cause shock and generate conversations about the sheer depravity of the powerful persons involved, the victims, whose well-being and need for justice should be the utmost priority, and the names of the people involved. From former princes, crowned princesses, presidents, industry leaders, billionaires, and some of the most prominent names in the world have been named in uncomplimentary ways in connection with Epstein.
While being mentioned in the files does not translate to complicity in the crimes of Mr Epstein, one of the overarching questions has been how this former teacher with questionable qualifications and sources of wealth ensnared world leaders, finance moguls, and royalties in a web of depravity, wealth, and power. How did he get them to be flocking to his side, some of them offering to be his “pet”?
These most recent Epstein files, and the conversations about morality in high places, coincided with the publication of a video showing Senator Adams Oshiomhole, or someone who looks like him, on a private jet, mid-flight, massaging the foot of South African influencer Leshaan Da Gama. Ms Da Gama, who is clearly not Senator Oshiomhole’s wife, has described herself as a “professional sugar baby,” who is averse to “broke guys” and is a known adult content creator. Of course, Mr Oshiomhole’s media representatives have dismissed the video as AI generated. AI videos of the years have gotten really good, but this claim by Oshiomhole’s camp seems rather spurious.
Whether the video is AI or real, one thing that is certain is that both parties in it seem to be consenting adults. So how is that anyone’s business, apart from Mr Oshiomhole’s wife, of course? The main question I am concerned with today is what rights do people have to demand moral conduct from leaders? On what grounds should we, if we should at all, demand morality from highly placed individuals?
The conversation around the world, from the US, where President Donald Trump’s complicity in Epstein’s crimes—not Trump’s morality, since that has been established at the base level prior—is being debated, to the UK where some members of the royal family, notably Mr Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, his former wife, and children, have been mentioned in uncomplimentary connection to Epstein, to even Norway where Crown Princess Mette-Marit is covering her face in shame over her embarrassing emails with Epstein, has been elucidating.
Fortunately, no Nigerian politician has been mentioned in the emails, although Jide Zeitlin, a Nigerian American businessman, had suggested a “fun dinner” to Mr Epstein and had proposed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Emir Sanusi of Kano as potential guests. That proposal somehow fell through. I am not sure what the reason was, but it is clear from the files that Mr Epstein harboured unfavourable views about Africans.
The racist undertone aside, the questionable judgement demonstrated by some of the powerful names mentioned in the files brings into focus the expectation of morally upright conduct from people in positions of leadership across the world, be it in politics or finance. The questionable morality of moral icons like Gandhi and Mother Teresa has shattered the veneer of sainthood applied to them for some, while others have continued to turn a blind eye, too afraid to look and see the uprightness of these figures shattered.
A small section of Nigerians were grossly disappointed to see former president Muhammadu Buhari shaking hands with women who were not Aisha Buhari after he became president. It took some of them a while to recognise that Buhari had not been voted the Imam of Aso Rock, but the president of Nigeria. The shock of seeing leaders they aspire to look up to in a compromised moral position can often be devastating.
Of course, ethicists have long debated this issue. One of the most notable discourses in political ethics since the 1970s has been Michael Walzer’s essay, “Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands,” in which he argued that leaders sometimes must do immoral things for the greater good. In essence, occasionally, he argues that the leader must dirty his or her hands for the good of the people. But this is conditional on the leader harbouring guilt over those acts and not justifying it. For instance, if the leader consents to the torture of a terror suspect to extract information about a time bomb to save innocent lives, the leader must feel guilt for this, not justify it. While torture, which is morally reprehensible, might be applied for the good of saving lives, the leader must ideally feel guilty for having to resort to that method.
The counterargument, of course, comes from Aristotle and the rest of the virtue ethics brigade, who would argue that character is inseparable from good leadership because practical wisdom requires moral insight, while consequentialists would argue that outcomes are more important than anything else. So, if a leader delivers results, does private morality matter?
This is where Nigerian political and morality cultures intersect with the global conversation. The failure of Nigerian leaders to deliver desired results and the vaunted dividends of democracy, splurging on private jets and bunga-bunga-style parties while the rest of the country burns, plundering resources that should go into building hospitals, infrastructure, resettling displaced families, paying salaries, and cleaning streets, erodes the basis for this argument. In this case, where public good is being compromised for private dalliances, immorality often impedes the performance of their roles and public functions.
The Epstein case complicates this argument. His behaviour and those of his partners and accomplices are not just private vices; they involved exploitation and possibly criminal abuse of power. Personal failings (such as affairs, substance use, etc.) and behaviour that abuses power, such as looting public funds to bankroll these vices, entrusting public welfare to persons whose most useful qualification is how they serve the leader’s personal failings is the opposite of dirty hands. It is dirty power.
If Oshiomhole’s video is proven to be real, it still cannot be dismissed as just personal vice—considering that he and Ms Da Gama would be consenting adults—the question will be at whose expense this was done, on whose time, and how has it affected his function as a public officer who is part of a government that is grappling with everything that Nigeria is grappling with at the moment.
So, what right do we have to demand morality from our leaders? Well, looking at it holistically, the ethical framework converges on the view that we do not only have the right to demand basic morality from leaders; we have an obligation to do so. This is principally because, by virtue of being leaders, these individuals wield power over others, making their character directly relevant to the institutions they are affiliated with. They set cultural and institutional norms. Therefore, to tolerate immorality in leaders corrodes public trust and institutional legitimacy. The exploitation and abuse of the vulnerable— and this may include powerful senators over less powerful ones, minors, and those who are socially compromised, and the masses in general—can never be dismissed as a private matter because, in the end, leadership requires practical wisdom that cannot coexist with profound vice.
What we have seen often in Nigeria and with the Epstein case is leaders who have demonstrated contempt for moral norms, who treat people as means rather than ends. There has been a structural complicity and collective responsibility that has normalised these behaviours among our leaders, teachers, and even the road safety officers mounting indiscriminate checkpoints for personal gain. Nigeria has sadly been running a system that has enabled, ignored, and benefitted from such questionable moral behaviour. In a way, we are all complicit. And still, we retain the right to demand better.
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, a columnist with Daily Trust, can be reached through abubakaradam@dailytrust.com
Twitter: @Abbakar_himself
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