The chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and the Arise Television anchor Mr. Rufai Oseni have exchanged public accusations over her reaction to a post on X, after she used a Lagos panel session to accuse him of misrepresenting her and to deliver a broad condemnation of the standards of Nigerian journalism.
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Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa was speaking on Saturday in Lagos at a panel session marking the twentieth anniversary of Mrs. Kikelomo Atanda-Owo Abati in the media industry, where she lamented what she described as declining standards and values in journalism and said journalists must be held accountable for their own conduct.
“In terms of journalism, there’s no talk about irresponsible journalism. Yes, I’m on Twitter [X]. I hear a lot of things.”
She recounted an incident involving a social media user who, she said, operates under the name “Voice of Igbos”. She said she had investigated the account and discovered the identity of the operator of the handle, whom she named only as Stephanie, and that the woman had repeatedly attacked her on social media, prompting her to respond to a comment on one of the posts.
The exchange, she said, became controversial after Mr. Oseni interpreted her response as an endorsement of an offensive reference to the Igbo ethnic group.
“Somebody replies to her. Then I do a smiley. And then Rufai Oseni comes and says, Abike Dabiri calls everybody Igbos monkeys and gorillas.”
“So that is irresponsible. And then it went viral. Even though I didn’t say Igbos.”
She said journalists must exercise greater restraint and responsibility, particularly when interpreting or amplifying statements made online.
“We have to ensure that you hold people responsible, but you must be responsible yourself. So we will not accept irresponsible journalism. For you to hold any government official responsible, you must be responsible.”
“And let me tell you, some journalism is going to the dogs. There’s no journalism anymore. There are no standards. There are no values.”
“The journalists that we were trained [by] are going to the dogs. There must be values. There must be standards. And not everybody is a journalist, please. That profession is destroyed.”
Mr. Oseni replied in a series of posts on X, accusing Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa of using a public event to attack him rather than to address the issues facing Nigerians abroad. He alleged that her demeanour changed when she saw him arrive at the event and that she could not help mentioning his name during the panel discussion.
“Abike Dabiri is more concerned about attacking Rufai Oseni in public instead of doing her job.”
He said the incident was not the first time she had confronted him publicly, and maintained that her reaction to the social media comment was an endorsement of what he called a racist post.
“You are guilty as charged. How can you share a laughter emoji at a post that denigrates a tribal group? I put it to you, your laughter here was an endorsement of a denigrating tweet against a certain ethnic group.”
He challenged her to a public debate.
“Your problem is you can’t stand the truth. I will like to challenge you to a debate on this issue where I will speak the truth to your face and prove to the world you endorse bigotry.”
He urged the NiDCOM chairperson to focus on the commission’s responsibilities rather than on their personal dispute.
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