Abike Dabiri-Erewa: When Duty Is Betrayed, Price Must Be Paid

 By Elsie-Bernadette Onubogu

It is no hyperbole when I say the internet erupted in a storm of tweets this past week. Unlike the cliché – ‘a perfect storm,’ there was nothing perfect in the sense of the word about this storm.

*Abike and Tinubu

That tweet on the ‘X’ platform soon found its way to other social media avenues in particular – WhatsApp. On the train to Ontario from New York, I realized I had missed several calls due in part to unstable network going through nature’s wooded scenery that allures me into taking the train to Canada rather than flying.

Upon investigation, I realized the raison d’etre for the storm was ‘the endorsement of a hate speech’ by a public officer appointed to represent and be the face of Nigeria in the Diaspora. Yes, there was outrage on the internet, and I keyed into that outrage. I did so because, in sharing and forwarding a tweet that was not only derogatory, bigoted, discriminatory, dehumanizing and denigrating, that Nigerian officer betrayed the sworn duty to promote respect, unity, and the dignity of every Nigerian irrespective of ethnicity, gender, class, religious belief or age.

Abike Must Resign, Or Render Unreserved Apologies

 By Steve Osuji

Though the comment elicited pure, undiluted outrage one, dithered in commenting about it initially.

*Tinubu and Abike

First, Igbo hating seems like a norm for Abike; a trait she cannot help. It seems to have lodged in her DNA like shrapnel. A number of times, in her unguarded moments, her true colours would peek from the horizon like the rising sun. 

Second, some Yoruba elements have taken Igbo baiting, bashing and hating to a new level in the last decade.

Consider the lineup: a paramount monarch of Lagos, the daughter of the sitting president, the current first lady in Aso Rock and the President's chief spokesman, among others, all have publicly and brazenly made hate remarks against the Igbo people of the southeast of Nigeria. 

7,000 Stranded Nigerians, NIDCOM And Worth Of A Nigerian Life

 By Magnus Onyibe

The recent revelation by Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), that more than 7,000 Nigerians are currently stranded in Libya, inspired this intervention. Her statement revived painful memories that moved me, eight years ago in March 2017, to publish an article lamenting the surge of illegal migration by our young men and women in search of greener pastures abroad.

That desperate pursuit often ended tragically, as countless Nigerians lost their lives attempting to cross the Sahara Desert on foot via Libya into Europe or navigating the Mediterranean Sea in rickety wooden boats into the Lampedusa islands, Italy.