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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director general of the World Trade Organization, has explained why she reportedly ignored President Bola Tinubu in a previous social media post.
Remember that Okonjo-Iweala shared pictures of herself and other world leaders at the Paris Global Financial Summit on her Twitter page, but the picture of her with Tinubu was absent.
“At a panel at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris discussing the role of trade and trade policy in combating climate change, poverty, and inequality,” she wrote. Together with Nathalie Delapalme and @Lagarde, @MathiasCormann, @LaurenceTubiana, @IFADPresident, @rajshah Sultan Al Jaber, @DrTedros, @JuttaUrpilainen, and #NewGlobalFinancingPact.
“Additional pictures from the Paris summit for a new global financing pact. Along with HE Presidents @LulaOficial, @Macky_Sall, @CyrilRamaphosa, and @HHichilema.
As this situation unfolded, there were conflicting reactions. Some political partisans said that her post was an insult to President Tinubu because she had recognized and shared photos with other presidents but had not done so with the Nigerian leader.
The former finance minister released pictures of herself and the president of Nigeria mingling during the summit in a fresh post after receiving criticism.
Okonjo-Iweala justified the backlash on Saturday via her Twitter account, saying that she shared pictures in the order that her colleagues and accompanying staff sent them to her.
She did, however, voice disappointment about the insults made against her by Nigerians, claiming that they are evidence of the extreme divisiveness that exists in our country.
Please unwind, Nigerians, she urged. Re: Paris, both sides’ attacks were amusing. Sadly demonstrates how deeply divided our society is. In the order that accompanying staff or coworkers send them to me, I share images. It is inappropriate to infer more from it. Instead of attacking, let’s work together to create our nation.