On February 3, 2026, several Nigerian newspapers published the list of 79 Nigerians to be deported from the U.S. – deportees described by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as, “Individuals convicted of offences including fraud, drug trafficking, assault, manslaughter and robbery, among others.” They were also described as “the worst of the worst” by the DHS.
It is important to note that the U.S. described these 79 individuals as “Nigerians” – not Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Efik or any other ethnic group – NIGERIANS. Simple.
But in Nigeria, Abike Dabiri Erewa, the rabid Igbo hating chairwoman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), can only function by dividing Nigerians into ethnic groups, engaging in ethnic baiting and jingoism designed to plunge Nigeria into the abyss of 1994 Rwanda.
So, when I did not hear the expected vuvuzela of her incontinent mouth telling the world that the criminal deportees were Igbo, alarm bells immediately went off. I then did what I would not ordinarily do – I went through the list and separated the names along ethnic lines. The ethnic makeup of the list of deportees immediately explained the reason for the deafening silence from the Igbo hating loudmouth at NIDCOM.
According to this list, available for anyone to equally inspect, there are at least 40 Yoruba criminal deportees out of the 79 listed – That is more than 50%. Abike take note.
Then there are 17 Igbos – i.e. 21.5%. The remainder are made up of Mid-Westerners, South-South, Hausa and other ethnic groups.
Historically, Igbos outnumber the Yorubas in the U.S. while the reverse is the case in the UK, therefore the ethnic makeup of this list is extremely cogent in light of Abike Dabiri’s repeated claims that it is Igbos causing Nigeria’s problems overseas.
So, with these stark statistics, released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, facts that are incontrovertible, Abike Dabiri Erewa’s Igbo hating mouth suddenly became mute. This hate-filled government representative of these Nigerians being deported suddenly went into hiding once the majority of the criminals being deported were identified as her kinsmen.
She has once again proven her incompetence.
Since she cannot let go of the government income she has gorged herself on since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999, despite repeatedly proving herself to be unworthy of the positions she’s held, let me yet again reiterate the call for Abike Dabiri to fall on her sword and remove herself from the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission immediately after tendering an unreserved apology to Nd’Igbo for her recorded history of vile utterances and conduct towards Nd’Igbo.
Again, I reiterate the call to President Tinubu to remove this vessel of hate from her position. She cannot remain chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission which she only understands as Yorubas in Diaspora Commission; or at best, Nigerians minus Igbos in Diaspora Commission. She is a physical representation of the worst excesses of ethnic division of Nigerians and has no place in representing Nigerians anywhere, be it at home or abroad.
If the Americans can label all the offenders as Nigerians, the chairwoman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri Erewa, should not be given the podium to keep dividing Nigerians with her putrid Igbo hatred. She must go. Simple.
Lilian Onoh was Nigeria’s Ambassador to Namibia and former Chargé d’Affaires to Jamaica
