When a Governor Seized His Son’s Car on a Nigerian Campus

What does power really look like when it enters your home? For Dapo Lam, politics is a lived experience shaped by discipline, sacrifice, and the quiet lessons of a father who rose to become governor. In this conversation, he takes us into his life: from observing the spiritual grounding of Ramadan fasting to navigating life as a student at the University of Ibadan under the shadow of political privilege. But privilege, as he reveals, came with its own cost. He recounts a defining moment when his father, Lam Adesina, stripped him of the car he used on campus, not out of punishment, but principle, after public murmurs questioned fairness. It is a story that cuts to the heart of leadership, accountability, and the burden of public perception. Beyond the personal, Dapo Lam opens a window into the mechanics of power in Nigeria: how it is built, negotiated, and sometimes misunderstood. Dapo Lam served as a member of the House of Representatives (2015–2019) and is a former Commissioner of Youth and Sports in Oyo State. But before all that, he was a young man who learned, painfully that in public life, perception can be as powerful as reality.