Lagos official attacks Abaribe for wearing 'dot nation' shirt

An official of Lagos State Government, Joe Igbokwe, on Tuesday attacked Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, for wearing a tee-shirt inscribed with “The Dot Nation”.

Mr Igbokwe, an aide to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Drainage and Water Resources, called Mr Abaribe “an elder for nothing and an ethnic bigot” in a post on Facebook.

“A Senator and an ethnic bigot, an elder for nothing. The blood of those policemen and the uninformed youths killed in the South-East will be accounted for in the fullness of time, We cannot be mad all the time,” the former spokesperson of APC in Lagos said.

He also vowed to write a book about Mr Abaribe.

It is not immediately clear to PREMIUM TIMES why Mr Abaribe, who represents Abia South Senatorial District and a member of PDP wore the shirt, as he did not respond to our correspondent calls and text message as of the time of filing this report.

‘Dot nation’ is a phrase that has become popular in the south-east following President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent interview with Arise TV, where he described those from the region agitating for secession as “a dot in a circle” who would not have anywhere to run to should they secede from Nigeria.

Both Messrs Abaribe (PDP, Abia South) and Igbokwe are from Nigeria’s south-east.

The president earlier said in a Tweet “in any case, we say we’ll talk to them in the language that they understand. We’ll organise the police and the military to pursue them.”

Mr Buhari’s statement sparked controversy. While some argued that he was mainly referring to IPOB, others argued that he was referring to the entire south-east of the Igbo people.