[dropcap]A[/dropcap]bike Dabiri has no honour, no substance and no integrity.
I am not surprised about the latest in her series of inhumane treatment of the other.
She went all out to thwart an age old legal principle of “innocent until proven guilty” when summarily sentenced the five Nigerians that were recently arrested in Dubai for allegedly robbing a financial institution. She gave their names because they appear to be of the Igbo ethnic group.
Abike Dabiri made herself the judge in this matter in Dubai whilst sitting in Nigeria.
The accused persons are yet to be prosecuted, and therefore remain innocent until proven guilty.
She also made herself the Saudi Arabian appeal court judge when she pronounced as innocent a Nigerian woman who was caught with illicit drugs, charged, prosecuted, found guilty and then executed in terms of the laws of Saudi Arabia. She concealed her name because she is not Igbo.
She went further to act as a spin doctor for several other Nigerians in the Saudi cells, serving jail time for peddling illicit drugs. She conveniently concealed their names because majority are not Igbo.
This is the same woman that came to South Africa in 2018, met with Nigerians at the Consul General’s residence in Johannesburg. She was informed by the Diplomats that about 12 Nigerians have been in detention for months on end, for a common fineable and bailable offence called public disorder.
These guys were simply protesting the death of fellow Nigerians killed during another round of xenophobic attacks by South Africans.
Abike Dabiri subsequently returned to Abuja, instead of advocating for their their immediate release from detention, she released a damning statement that the detained Nigerians are drug dealers, simply because they are all Igbo.
The same woman that in 2017, went on national TV to recklessly instigate students to go on protest against South African businesses and interests in Nigeria as a result of xenophobic attacks on foreigners, even without understanding the context of the story.
She went about lying on national TV just for popularity sake and without minding the huge consequences her infantile conduct would attract.
Those South African businesses are the same companies that our innocent students would inundate with job applications after graduation.
Yet, people like Abike Dabiri will not think of investing their ill – gotten money in Nigeria in order to create jobs. All they do is stash the money overseas.
This same woman is yet to condemn the killings of native Nigerians in the Middle Belt of Nigeria mostly, and other parts of Nigerian, not one comforting word for the victims’ families in the Middle Belt, Zamfara State, Borno State and other parts of Nigeria where the fulani herdsmen are rampaging everyday.
I wonder on what criteria some of these people are selected for public offices.
I thank you
Austin Okeke, is a barrister who writes from South Africa.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
