For many, Abike Dabiri’s response solidifies the impression that many Nigerians who travel to Indonesia are drug couriers.
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri, yesterday, followed a Twitter troll to the ‘gutter’ when he first called her mumu, which is a broken English way of describing someone as a fool. She hits back, calling him an ode, the Yoruba word also for a fool.
Back story
At a university campus near Delhi, the capital of India, a mob attacked Nigerian students with clubs and sticks after a football match. Abike Dabiri posted the video of the incident to lament the situation in the country where an estimated 30,000 Nigerians are studying.
A tweep then chided Abike Dabiri and the government for not doing enough to protect Nigerians in India.
The brawl
Another tweep, @sensegiver1, jumped in and hurled abuses at Abike Dabiri. He said: “She should go to Indonesia and see how Nigerians are treated. Mumu woman supporting a failed government. She’s equally part of the failure. Eye service!”
Abike Dabiri fired back, albeit undiplomatically. “Ode! You go to Indonesia, carry drugs, do cultism and come begging to be rescued from death sentence. Thank God for @ndlea_nigeria now saving people like you from death row.”
Reactions
For many, Abike Dabiri’s response solidifies the impression that many Nigerians who travel to Indonesia are drug couriers.
A former minister of education, Oby Ezekwesili, advised Abike Dabiri to delete the comment. She said via her Twitter handle @obyezeks: “Dear Abike @abikedabiri, what is this? Kai. This is messy. Please clean it up. Quickly. Please.”
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Abike kicked. “I’m done on this. But out of respect for you, will ask, clean what up? It’s okay for some untrained, uncouth guy to refer to me as ‘mumu,’ and I can’t call him ‘ode.’ I’m not a public official that cows to bullying pls.”
@firstladyship said: “Kids can be sloppy but not adults. Abike missed a unique opportunity to sell 🇳🇬 to the World. She threw Nigeria’s Foreign Policy & Image-Making in the dustbin. The World is taking note. Her tweet will further reduce our FDIs and the value of Nigeria Passport.”
@princefemiAG added: “An American Ambassador will never say this to his or her citizen. Our leaders lack diplomatic way of addressing issues. Not all these people are victims, but because the Embassy doesn’t care about its citizens in any country.”
@SavvyRinu also added: “Your job (Abike) is to help us build relationships with other countries and create a positive image of us out there but you just called us drug dealers. Well done.”
But @AyobamiGfr28 countered: “Her job is to help us build relationships with other countries by supporting the Nigerians that tarnishes the image of Nigeria in foreign countries or what? Has there ever been a time she didn’t stand up to help Nigerians whenever they have problems not related to drugs and cultism abroad?”