Hate Speech: Refrain From Ethnic Profiling, NIDCOM Tells Nigerians In Diaspora

The attention of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission has been drawn to comments by an unidentifiable group who tagged itself with the title “ Igbos in Diaspora.

A statement signed by the Director media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit, (NIDCOM), Mr Abdur-Rahman Balogun, stated, “ideally we would have refrained from any response on such despicable rants but we will just put a few facts in place.

First, on the allegation of NIDCOM Chairman/CEO’s “delayed” response to the comments by one Mr Kingsley Ugiagbe in Austria against the Igbo people as compared to the case with the HATE speechby Amaka in Canada.

It must be noted that immediately Kingsley Ugiagbe made his comments ,the Edo Association in Austria reacted promptly by denouncing and disassociating themselves from the comments of Mr Kingsley Ugiagbe who showed remorse and apologized .

The statement further noted that NiDCOM was not petitioned by Nigerians in Austria , because the Edo diaspora in Austria had immediately handled the issue with maturity, with Kingsley Ugiagbe tendering an apology and promising to be of good conduct, going forward,(find attached letter from Edo Community).

Meanwhile, the situation in Canada was different Nigerian groups in Canada raised an alarm, sent several petitions to both NIDCOM and the Nigerian House of Representatives, as well as Canadian authorities, and were deeply worried that rather than remorse, Amaka and her group bragged about the hate speech and wasn’t apologetic.

This prompted NIDCOM and the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora headed by Hon Chinedu Okere to take an offficial action.

We highly commend the Edo group in Austria for their leadership by taking the right immediate decision to castigate their kinsman without allowing the matter to degenerate on the issue of the fake report of what the Canadian government said, the group failed to attribute the statement to any official in the Canadian government.

It should be noted that Amaka is on bail with restrictions and we urge restraint on comments made on her behalf so it would not have affect her negatively NIDCOM hopes that a major lesson from this incident is for all to exercise restraint on acerbic comments made under the guise of anonymity.

Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa once again has reiterated her commitment to engaging with all Nigerians in the Diaspora individually and collectively with respect and dignity.

NIDCOM has been involved in several interventions for Nigerians in various countries such as: Libya, Oman, Lebanon, Bosnia, Southern Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Ukraine, South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana involving thousands of Nigerians in diaspora and will continue to do so.

A few specific cases of several interventions include that in Bosnia and Herzegovina where NIDCOM rescued two young adults (Chinedu and Uchenna) who were arrested while attempting to cross the border to Herzegovina, Zainab Aliyu and Ibrahim Ibrahim saved from death row in Saudi Arabia for an alleged drug-related case which they never committed as well as John Adam Smart who was rescued in Kenya, a woman with 3kids(tripplet) was rescued from Oman and recently, trafficked Nigerian Girls rescued in Ghana by Nigerians in Diaspora Organization, Ghana, under the leadership of Chief Callistus Elozieuwa, one of NIDCOM’s 2024 National Diaspora Merit award winner NiDCOM is also currently working with the Senate and House Committees on Diaspora on the situation of Nigerians in prisons, particularly Ethiopia and neighboring countries.

Dabiri-Erewa therefore urges all Nigerians in diaspora to preach the message of Unity as they are all identified by the same green passport.

“Crime or bad behavior should not be ethnicised and we encourage Nigerians abroad to continue to be good ambassadors of their country”, she advised.