Nwachukwu Darl Storm

ABİKE DABIRI-EREWA, YOU CANNOT LAUGH AT ETHNIC HATE AND THEN HIDE BEHIND SEMANTICS! Madam, you are not just an ordinary social media user. You are the Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, a public official serving under President Bola Tinubu. Your office demands sensitivity, responsibility and respect for every Nigerian, regardless of ethnicity. So, when you amplify a post describing Igbo people as monkeys, children of gorillas and bastards, and accompany it with laughing emojis, you cannot expect Nigerians to pretend nothing happened simply because you did not personally write the original insult. You may not have authored the hate speech, but you chose to amplify it. That is precisely what you need to explain. Your defence that you did not personally call Igbo people those names does not answer the central question: why did you repost that message with laughter in the first place? And what makes this particularly troubling is the government you represent. This is a government whose officials routinely demand respect for the President and insist that public discourse must be responsible. Yet, when a senior public official is confronted with a controversy involving an ethnic insult, the public deserves more than an argument over who typed the words. If the same conduct were directed at your own ethnic group, would you consider it harmless because the person sharing it did not originate the insult? Nigeria belongs equally to the Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Middle Belt communities and every other ethnic nationality. No public official should treat ethnic humiliation as entertainment. Madam Abike, this is not about escaping blame through technicalities. It is about responsibility for what you choose to amplify. You owe the Igbo people and Nigerians at large an unreserved public apology. Not another explanation designed to narrow the accusation. Not an attempt to make the controversy about who misunderstood whom. An apology that acknowledges the hurt caused and recognises the responsibility that comes with your office. Public office is a position of trust, not a licence to dismiss legitimate public outrage. If you expect Nigerians to respect the office you occupy, you must also respect the people whose interests that office is meant to serve. Solomon Dalung Esq.