A burial service is not a political arena. It is sacred ground – solemn, reflective, restrained. When that sanctity is disrupted by ego or disregard, it is not merely a personal lapse; it becomes a public affront.

The reported conduct of the Ogun State SSG, Hon. Tokunbo Talabi at the funeral of the late Chief (Mrs.) Lucia Onabanjo, wife of Olabisi Onabanjo has stirred justified concern across Ogun State. In a moment meant for reverence, an avoidable confrontation allegedly unfolded over seating protocol involving former Governor Ibikunle Amosun and his wife.

Protocol at state functions is not ornamental. It is the architecture of respect.

A Secretary to the State Government is an appointed officeholder. A former governor is a constitutional elder of the state, one who once bore its full weight of leadership. In civilised governance traditions, precedence is not about ego; it is about institutional memory, continuity, and respect for office, past and present.

To disregard that order, particularly in a church during a funeral, signals something deeper than a seating dispute. It suggests a troubling comfort with public discourtesy.

This is not about personalities. It is about principles.

When unelected officials appear to override established norms in full public glare, the message transmitted is dangerous: that hierarchy is optional, that civility is negotiable, that protocol bends to proximity to power.

That perception erodes confidence in governance culture.

Ogun State is not short of political differences. But there remains an unwritten covenant — that at moments of mourning and state ceremony, rivalry gives way to respect. That covenant appears to have been strained.

The public people’s court, the only court that ultimately matters in a democracy  does not deliberate in legal codes. It judges by optics, by tone, by comportment. And in that court, perception carries weight.

If protocol was breached, accountability must be visible. Not vindictive, not theatrical but corrective. A reaffirmation that institutions, not individuals, define order. That dignity is non-negotiable. That senior statesmen are treated as such, regardless of current alignments.

Governor Dapo Abiodun now faces more than a political irritant; he faces a governance signal. Silence may be interpreted as endorsement. Clarity would restore balance.

This is larger than one service, one seat, or one exchange.

It is about what Ogun State chooses to normalise in its public culture.

And the people are watching.