Words matter. Throughout history, words have been used as weapons, carefully chosen and deliberately deployed to dehumanize, demonize, marginalize, stereotype, and ultimately destroy. From the apartheid regime in South Africa to the Holocaust in Europe to Jim Crow in the United States, language has always been the prelude to violence. In Nigeria, the scars of the Biafran war and the massacre of Igbos in the 1970s remain fresh reminders that ethnic stigmatization is never innocent.
It is in this historical light that Adike Dabiri’s recent description of Ndi Igbo as “monkeys” must be understood. Her remark is not an isolated insult. It is part of a political tradition, one that has long sought to repress Ndi Igbo, to delegitimize their leadership potential, and to keep them at the margins of power in a system dominated by the controlling oligarchy with Britain’s enduring shadow of complicity.
Dabiri, the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, did not simply misspeak. To refer to an entire people as “monkeys” is not merely careless; it is a political act with deep historical resonance. Such rhetoric borrows directly from the Eurocentric pseudoscience that once labeled Africans as subhuman, justifying slavery, segregation, and colonial exploitation. It is also disturbingly reminiscent of the tribal propaganda that fanned genocidal flames in Rwanda, where Tutsis were called “cockroaches” before the massacres began.
The criminological literature shows that labeling is not harmless. Herrnstein and Murray’s (1994) The Bell Curve notoriously claimed that Black people were intellectually inferior and more prone to criminality, a position Gould (1996) rightly exposed in The Mismeasure of Man as both scientifically bankrupt and morally dangerous. Dabiri’s rhetoric fits into this long, shameful tradition of stigmatization masquerading as truth.
I take Dabiri’s words more seriously than some because they were intentional, not accidental. They serve a familiar political function: to delegitimize Ndi Igbo as a political force and to dissuade the wider Nigerian public from seeing them as worthy of national leadership. Her language functions as a kind of verbal apartheid, creating an invisible wall between Igbos and complete belonging in the Nigerian polity.
Dabiri’s words must be read as a ploy and an attempt to reinforce political repression of Ndi Igbo
More pointedly, Dabiri’s words must be read as a ploy and an attempt to reinforce political repression of Ndi Igbo and to sustain the culture of resentment and hatred cultivated by the ruling governing oligarchy, with Britain’s silent complicity. From colonial indirect rule to the post-independence order, the strategy has been consistent: divide Nigeria’s peoples, separate Igbos from their brothers in the southern region, demonize Igbo ambition, and suppress their legitimate claims to presidential leadership. Dabiri’s demonization, therefore, fits neatly within this more extended history of structural exclusion and elite manipulation.
Her views are not new. During the Buhari administration, where Dabiri served as Senior Special Assistant to the President, we witnessed systemic targeting of Igbo youths, whose protests and calls for fairness were met with bullets and imprisonment. Dabiri, as part of that political ecosystem, cannot be divorced from this legacy of repression. Today, her words echo the same logic—painting Igbos as unfit, unruly, and undeserving, while benefiting from mollycoddled, lucrative positions.
Some may be tempted to dismiss her words as insignificant; however, Prof. Sam Amadi reminded us to challenge every step of her ahistorical and demonization project. But history warns us against such complacency, she portrayed. The demonization of Jews in Nazi Germany began with jokes, caricatures, and animalistic depictions long before it turned into gas chambers. The denigration of Black people in America through minstrel shows and pseudoscience paved the way for centuries of exclusion under Jim Crow. As Chinua Achebe noted in 2012, the dismissal of Igbo humanity in the 1960s prepared the ground for pogroms and starvation during the Biafran war. If unchecked, Dabiri’s rhetoric risks normalizing a culture of contempt that can once again escalate into tragedy. To label a people “monkeys” is to strip them of their humanity. And once humanity is stripped, anything can be justified, and Dabiri’s peculiar presence may resolutely reflect her depictions of the “outsider.”
Fortunately, the Igbo story cannot be erased by careless insults or elite propaganda. The world has witnessed the innovation, resilience, and political vision of Igbo leaders, most recently embodied in Governor Peter Obi, whose presidential bid drew admiration far beyond Nigeria’s borders. Across commerce, academia, technology, and politics, Ndi Igbo continue to demonstrate the very qualities of ingenuity, discipline, and foresight that are indispensable to Nigeria’s future.
It is precisely this excellence that makes the ruling class uneasy. For the ruling oligarchy and their allies, including Britain’s postcolonial interests, keeping Ndi Igbo demonized ensures continued exclusion. For Dabiri, echoing this script may secure political favor and advancement. But for Nigeria, it is a betrayal of democracy, pluralism, and advancement.
The responsibility now falls on Igbo intellectuals and allies not to let Dabiri’s words stand unchallenged. The days of silence are over. We must respond not with violence but with pens, with scholarship, and with moral clarity. By debunking her rhetoric, we expose its deficiency, reaffirm the dignity of our people, and cast off the voices of her type.
Dabiri’s diatribe is not just a personal insult; indeed, it is a political weapon, part of a perilous tradition of ethnic demonization and repression. She may need more education on the concept of ethnicity, which categorizes clusters of people with varying cultures and ways of life. She ought to understand that political actors can use the differences in ethnicities to attain political power. Dabiri’s words, assuredly, are designed to sway ethnic groups into fighting each other, hence her subsequent demonization project for political sustainability. We have seen where such rhetoric leads, and Nigeria cannot afford to go down that path again. If Nigeria is to thrive as a plural and democratic nation, its leaders, especially those in positions of influence, must be held accountable for their words. To call Ndi Igbo “monkeys” is to betray both history and humanity. And history has taught us, again and again, that silence in the face of such betrayal is complicity.
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■ Dr. Onwudiwe, a Professor of Criminology at Texas Southern University, is on the EDITORIAL BOARD of the WAP
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One comment
Don Okolo
September 10, 2025 at 8:22 am
Dr. I.D. Onwudiwe, thanks. Your piece is pointed, and masterful. You guys on the fence of peace are amazing. You are so nice. I wanted an in-your-face-Dabiri-laced diatribe. A monkey-feces smear to replace her gaboon viper mug. But in the last minute, the brilliant words of the late comedian, Paul Mooney, says it all: Take a good look at that monkey.