Published 18th Oct, 2022

By Joseph Adeiye

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), has been criticised for the “ungentlemanly comments” she made on Twitter on Tuesday.

While informing Nigerians about the initiatives taken so far by her commission in assisting some Nigerian students who were recently attacked in India, Dabiri-Erewa responded angrily to a comment made by a Twitter user that her office was “always handling diaspora matters poorly”.

Before the hot exchange, Dabiri-Erewa had stated that the attack on the students was a spin-off from the fracas that ensued between African and Indian students during a football match.

“The Nigerian mission immediately took custody of 86 Nigerian students, invited the representatives of the Indian government, got their commitment to ensure safety of the students who then returned back [sic] to campus on Sunday,” she wrote.

After Dabiri-Erewa’s comment, @raider_marine, a Twitter user, responded by saying that NiDCOM was not doing enough to protect Nigerians abroad. Another user who goes by the name @sensegiver1 expressed the same sentiment but in a ‘not so polite tone’.

This was when Dabiri-Erewa decided to respond angrily to @sensegiver1’s comment.

“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,” Dabira-Erewa tweeted.

The chairperson’s response immediately attracted criticisms from many Nigerians, leading to some of them saying such should not be coming from a public official.

Your job 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 👏🏾
— Rinu Oduala 🔥🔫 (@SavvyRinu) October 18, 2022

The true color of most government appointees will show this election period. Lots of unveiling to come.
No decency or decorum.I have always wondered why most officials of this present government are always aggressive and https://t.co/xQL6Pgs5IV are a public servant no matter what
— MimiSo (@misansoleye) October 18, 2022

I deeply wish you could tender apologies @abikedabiri. No amount of provocation should attract “Ode” from a public servant like you. You literally insulted your entire nation in that singular tweet. Your tweets now represent the entire Nigeria, and not yours alone.
— COASTMAN (@RealCOASTMAN) October 17, 2022

However, Dabiri-Erewa tweeted a second time to show she was not remorseful for the response she had issued to the Twitter user earlier.

“No one can get under my skin. I reply when I want to and say what I want to when I want to and when I have the time. And I will boldly say ‘I said what I said,'” Dabiri-Erewa tweeted again.

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