Kenneth Ikonne wrote:
Miss Otobo And The Apostle- My Thoughts!
There is indeed, in the law of contract, a species of action, known as the breach of a contract to marry!
In evaluating Miss Otobo's claims against Apostle Johnson Suleiman, it is important not to conflate, or mix up the viability of her chances in a court of law, and her capacity to inflict maximum damage in the court of public opinion!
In the regular courts, two fundamental factors weigh against her chances.
The first is the factual impossibility of establishing the existence of such a contract, while the second is the legal incapacity of the Apostle, a man married under the Marriage Act, to enter into such a contract!
Even if such a contract is consummated, the resulting marriage would be a nullity, having been contracted during the subsistence of the Apostle's statutory marriage, and the Apostle would have committed the criminal offence of bigamy.
The basic principle of the law of contract is that the law would not enforce an illegal contract!
Compounding Miss Otobo's woes, both in the law court, and in the court of public opinion, is that in her desire to tittilate, she has failed to marshal her key points with consistency. Her story is riddled with crucial and disabling inconsistencies.
On the key question of whether there was indeed a marriage introduction, she has materially contradicted herself, claiming in one breath that the introduction took place in her home town, and in another place that it took place in the apostolic office.
The cardinal principle in the evaluation of evidence is that if, on a material point, a witness offers two contradictory versions of the same story, then the entire story must be treated with grave suspicion, as her audience is thereby rendered powerless to choose which version to believe.
In plain language, the witness is lying, and his or her story must be given short shrift!
Huge cash transfers, trips to New York or Naples, trysts in exclusive hotels in Ikeja or elsewhere would not suffice to establish a contract to marry Miss Otobo! On the contrary, they establish that that this was one courtesan who was much indulged, and who was more than fairly rewarded for her services! But even this has not been established. And she cannot establish it by casting the burden of proof on the Apostle, or by simply barring her boobs!
The evidence proffered so far by her might be salacious, but it is also desultory and has so far failed to link directly to the Apostle!
For instance, there are pictures of a penis, without proof at all that the penis is apostolic! There are supposed screenshots of whatsapp chats without the accompanying voice play.
Her electronic evidence is further undermined by the fact that it is now a notorious fact that there exists a technology known as photo shopping, and even before the Otobo saga, photo shopping has been deployed to devastating effect in this country!
This is not to say that Apostle Suleiman is beyond sin. But because of his antecedents as a fiery critic in an Era that is becoming increasingly intolerant, it is safer to demand a higher degree of proof from Miss Otobo. Otherwise, we all run the risk of being taken for a huge ride in what might be a very well orchestrated gimmick to sully Suleiman's reputation and silence him forever!
copied via Nwagu LP
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