Abike Dabiri being falsely accused of Igbo hate – Actor Patrick Doyle

By John Ogunsemore

Veteran actor and broadcaster, Patrick Doyle said Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa is being falsely accused of referring to Igbos as “monkeys”.

Doyle stated this in a Facebook post on Tuesday in reaction to a viral incident involving Dabiri-Erewa on the X social media platform last Wednesday.

Doyle stated that Dabiri has since 2024 been the target of a campaign of character assassination on X.

He recounted how, on one occasion, a faceless X handle at the centre of the campaign referred to the NIDCOM boss as “mother ape”.

Doyle said, “The shenanigans of primordial media lynch mobs know no bounds.

“This recent brouhaha, which falsely claimed that Abike Dabiri denigrated Ndigbo by calling them ‘monkeys,’ is a classic case of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it to satisfy a delusional primordial itch.”

The broadcaster disclosed that he investigated the claim against Dabiri-Erewa, a friend and colleague of four decades, and found it false.

He explained, “Apparently, a particular anonymous X handle going by the moniker ‘@VoiceofIgbo’ has since 2024 launched a campaign of character assassination against Abike.

“This same individual made a post with these exact words ‘Do you know why MOTHER APE (Abike Dabiri ) hates Igbos…..’ and had effrontery to tag Abike.

“In response to this post on Abike’s page, a certain Wale S Akerele whose X handle is @akerele_s made the following post with these words ‘My sister, you are doing well allow those monkeys to continue to make unnecessary noises they are born to be ungrateful people. Those animals tagging you they are children of gorilla, history told us about them….’

“In response to Akerele, Abike posted laughter emoji.

“It is this response that mischievous character assassins leveraged on to falsely accuse Abike of referring to Igbos as monkeys.”

Doyle said it was “very disheartening” that otherwise responsible persons ran with this “diabolic narrative and joined the mob in calling for Abike’s head”.