diff --git a/src/nvim/api/private/validate.c b/src/nvim/api/private/validate.c
index 7e0262e2e0..05b359a68d 100644
--- a/src/nvim/api/private/validate.c
+++ b/src/nvim/api/private/validate.c
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 #include <inttypes.h>
-#include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
 
 #include "nvim/api/private/defs.h"
 #include "nvim/api/private/helpers.h"
 #include "nvim/api/private/validate.h"
 #include "nvim/ascii_defs.h"
-#include "nvim/globals.h"
 
 /// Creates "Invalid …" message and sets it on `err`.
 void api_err_invalid(Error *err, const char *name, const char *val_s, int64_t val_n, bool quote_val)
@@ -84,11 +82,12 @@ void api_err_conflict(Error *err, const char *name, const char *name2)
 
 bool check_string_array(Array arr, char *name, bool disallow_nl, Error *err)
 {
-  snprintf(IObuff, sizeof(IObuff), "'%s' item", name);
   for (size_t i = 0; i < arr.size; i++) {
-    VALIDATE_T(IObuff, kObjectTypeString, arr.items[i].type, {
+    if (arr.items[i].type != kObjectTypeString) {
+      api_set_error(err, kErrorTypeValidation, "Invalid '%s' item: expected String, got %s", name,
+                    api_typename(arr.items[i].type));
       return false;
-    });
+    }
     // Disallow newlines in the middle of the line.
     if (disallow_nl) {
       const String l = arr.items[i].data.string;
diff --git a/src/nvim/ui.c b/src/nvim/ui.c
index 9934671091..2beebec333 100644
--- a/src/nvim/ui.c
+++ b/src/nvim/ui.c
@@ -797,6 +797,9 @@ void ui_call_event(char *name, Array args)
   int save_textlock = textlock;
   expr_map_lock = 0;
   textlock = 0;
+  // Caller may still be using `IObuff`, e.g. as the message being shown.
+  char save_iobuff[IOSIZE];
+  memcpy(save_iobuff, IObuff, IOSIZE);
 
   bool handled = false;
   bool fast = msg_ext_fast && strcmp("msg_show", name) == 0;
@@ -818,6 +821,7 @@ void ui_call_event(char *name, Array args)
 
   expr_map_lock = save_expr_map_lock;
   textlock = save_textlock;
+  memcpy(IObuff, save_iobuff, IOSIZE);
   ctx_load(&ctx, kCtxCount, 0);
   ctx_free(&ctx);
 
diff --git a/test/functional/ui/messages2_spec.lua b/test/functional/ui/messages2_spec.lua
index 111f72df03..567dfd8d1b 100644
--- a/test/functional/ui/messages2_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/ui/messages2_spec.lua
@@ -1196,6 +1196,21 @@ describe('messages2', function()
     end)
     feed('2gm')
     t.eq(2, exec_lua('return _G.count'))
+
+    -- Handler does not clobber the file info message, which is repeated after `i_CTRL-O`.
+    finally(function()
+      os.remove('Xfile')
+    end)
+    t.write_file('Xfile', '')
+    command('set messagesopt& shortmess-=F | edit Xfile')
+    feed('i<C-o>:edit<CR>')
+    screen:expect([[
+      ^                                                     |
+      {1:~                                                    }|*10
+      {1:~                                   }{4:"Xfile" "Xfile"  }|
+      {1:~                                   }{4:"Xfile" 0L, 0B(1)}|
+      {5:-- INSERT --}                                         |
+    ]])
   end)
 
   it('configured targets per kind', function()