The Hate in Abike Dabri’s Bigotry.

Political Musing of Thursday September 11, 2025

By Ike Abonyi 

“ _Support free speech. Condemn hate speech. That is not so hard at all.”_ 

― Khayri R.R. Woulfe

The feeling of revulsion towards Igbos by some Yorubas, particularly in Lagos, is growing in bounds, and if those fueling it are not brought down, it can have far-reaching consequences.  

Also to be brought down is the impression these bigots are trying to create that they, by their devious acts, are protecting Yoruba interests. It is not true, and also untrue is the image they are building up that Yorubas and Igbos are in some uncanny political competition. No one could claim more Yoruba than late Ayo Adebanjo, who led the Afenifere to support Peter Obi, the Labour Party Presidential candidate in 2023, standing strongly on three variables Yorubas associate with: justice, fairness, and competence. The kind of governance delivered to Nigerians in the last 27 months has virtually proved the late Afenifere leader right.

The brazenly open bias these Igbo haters are creating is already leading to poor decision-making, as they are overlooking important perspectives on issues. They are creating a toxic work environment in Lagos that is decreasing harmonious living among the two ethnic groups. 

Ethnic bigotry can create divisions and tensions and hinder national progress and development. Experience has shown that prioritising ethnic interests while holding public office can lead to marginalisation of other groups, exacerbating feelings of exclusion and resentment, and if unchecked, can escalate into conflicts, posing a threat to national stability and security.

What the Igbos have done successfully in handling this needless stigmatisation is to quarantine these hawks into who they really are, power mongers ready to do anything untoward to hang on. They don’t merit being tagged Yoruba irredentist which is the picture they are deviously trying to create. Nobody should be surprised because their godfather is an apostle of grab and run, and they are possibly ready to crush anybody, since in their game, all rules to get to the goal are fair. Those who easily fit into their vision are, by their antecedents and DNA, Igbo haters like the Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, whose reposting a message that referred to Igbos in a derogatory manner has sparked outrage and led to calls for her removal.

Abike Dabri has proven to be a square peg in a square hole for anything anti-Igbo. Her unceasing grudge against anything Igbo is becoming fundamental, and only she can explain why. This disposition is particularly fitting for her since this dispensation sees Ndigbo in such a bad light.

Recall that Mrs Dabiri-Erewa had drawn the anger of Igbos in diaspora over her delayed response to comments made by one Kingsley Ugiagbe, who had threatened to kill Nigerians of Igbo extraction in Austria, compared to the hate speech made by Amaka Sonnberger, who advocated for the poisoning of Yorubas and the people of Benin, in Canada. Again, in late April 2023, following the rescue of Nigerians trapped in Sudan at the outbreak of the Sudanese civil war, an Igbo group, Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, (COSEYL), demanded that the chairperson of Nigerians In Diaspora Commission be sacked and prosecuted for displaying wickedness and inhumanity against Igbo population who were among those trapped in the war-torn country.

The group, in a statement by its President Goodluck Ibem said it was “alarmed over the inhuman and wicked treatment meted out to Nigerians of Igbo origin by Dabiri-Erewa wherein she and her team ordered all the Igbos who had entered the rescue bus sent by the Federal government to Sudan to come down while conveying Nigerians who are not of Igbo origin. 

For Abike Dabri, Igbos in diaspora are not Nigerians unless they score goals and win laurels in other areas. Once it’s negative, they are from the South East, and they must be properly labelled as Igbos. If the drug cartels recently smashed by the NDLEA in Lagos, involving all Yoruba boys were Igbos, Abike Dabiri would have screamed to high heaven identifying their family roots. If an Igbo traditional ruler was the one jailed in the US for corruption, Abike would have been on air talking about the embarrassment to Nigeria by the ethnic group. On Sunday August 3, 2025, Mrs Dabiri-Erewa, in an interview on Arise TV, said 20 of the 21 citizens on death row in Indonesia were from a State in South-East Nigeria.

Speaking on the interventions of her agency in the recent protests against Igbo in Ghana, Mrs Dabiri-Erewa responded: “The tribe you mention will ask if it’s because of us. 

“You know what? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Out of 21 of them, 20 were from one state in the South-East. The other one is from Edo State. 

With all these records Abike Dabri continues to keep her position and receives a salary from taxes paid largely by the people she so hates to see. It cannot be overemphasised that leaders at all levels, particularly those holding national positions, should endeavour to promote inclusive and respectful language, fostering a culture of empathy, understanding, and respect for human rights. Ethnic jingoist should not have a place in national positions because of the toxic effect of their bigotry.

The question is, where is all this hate coming from? And why is the hate getting aggravated even when they are holding power? 

The growing hate of Ndigbo in Lagos by some Yorubas is concerning because the basis is unclear. Something is fundamentally wrong when you are proverbially holding the knife and the yam, with the final decision on how and where to cut it and you are still fighting the person holding nothing.

Ethnic bigotry by leaders in power remains condemnable because it prioritises ethnic groups' interests over those of others, and often leads to exclusion, marginalisation, and conflict. This current Igbophobia group is being championed by Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu's hirelings and Abike Dabiri. They are fueling ethnic tensions for their own selfish gains. For Abike, a journalist we couldn’t find where an Igbo contributed to her challenges to warrant such a bumptious life and hate of an ethnic group. Unless she is reserving her reason for the memoirs she hopes to title ’Why I hate Igbos’

In an ideal environment where decency runs government, Abike Dabiri should have resigned from her position after a recurring hate display against an ethnic group while wearing the garb of a national public officer. 

But rather than get a reprimand she is getting a confidential promotion. The origin of all these is not unknown, recall that during the electioneering the wife of the then Presidential candidate of APC now the First Lady said publicly that,’ they’ will deal with the Igbos in Lagos if they don’t behave well electorally, few took it as a mere political talk, but given what has been going on with Igbos in Lagos since they grabbed the power and given the unprecedented weight of the First Lady in power corridor in this dispensation, nobody should be surprised at the harassment of Ndigbo in Lagos. Particularly if you trace Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s journey to Alausa and the First Lady’s huge impact.

The huge electoral embarrassment, the demystification of Jagaban’s electoral prowess in Lagos by Ndigbo votes in 2023 has helped significantly to fuel the anger against them. And added to that is the rampaging image of Peter Obi ahead of 2027.

But should that be, has Ndigbo not made more contributions and sacrifices than any ethnic group in the South in this dispensation?

From 1999 to 2027 will be 28 years of this uninterrupted democratic trajectory, and the Presidential power would have been in the South for 17 years, South West 12 years, South South five years, with the two zones taking eight years and three years respectively of the Vice Presidency, none to the South East. 

Yet, politically and idiomatically speaking, Igbos are like the milipede that said that it did not cry when someone stepped on it, but the one who stepped on its foot did the crying. The main motive of all these provocations is to subdue and frustrate Ndigbo out of the polity and send them back to where they were when Obi's candidacy dragged them out of their cocoon.

But what these Igbophobics need to know, drawing from another African saying still on the milipede, is that Igbos cannot be intimidated in this country because the dance of a milipede can not intimidate he who has seen the dance of a snake. At the risk of sounding arrogant, the sacrifice Ndigbo has made in this country in investment and others is second to none, and they cannot allow anybody, no matter the resources or political power at their disposal, to bully them. Anybody misreading Ndigbo civility to mean weakness should better expand the scope of their study to arrive at an empirical answer. This country belongs to all citizens irrespective of their ethnic or religious background.

The global history is awash with the effect of having hate speech leaders who use discriminatory and pejorative language to target specific groups based on characteristics such as race, religion, gender, or nationality. The goal of such speech is to promote hostility, incite violence, and normalise prejudice.

Historically, hate speech has been a precursor to violence and mass atrocities, including genocide. While the use of social media and digital platforms has amplified its reach, the weaponisation of public discourse for political gain is not a new phenomenon. Therefore, the likes of Abike Dabri and their motivators should do well to study carefully the effects of this ideology in India under Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath, Amit Shah, etc, all good purveyors of hate speeches. Hate is not human and to avoid it is to ask yourself before every speech - is it right, is it necessary, is it human!” God help us.