First Bank Apologises for Tweet on Lagos Commuters

Ololade Adeyanju/

First Bank of Nigeria has apologised for an offensive tweet on Thursday following widespread condemnation.

First Bank also apparently deleted the tweet.

The tweet had attempted to make light of the hardship experienced by commuters in Lagos as a result of the closure of some major roads during President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit.

But it generated angry reactions on Twitter, with many seeing it as a joke in bad taste.

Some berated the bank for making fun of people’s pain and also threatened to close their accounts.

Others also suggested the tweet was a jab aimed at the ruling All Progressives Congress.

While apologising for the tweet, the bank tweeted: “Dear Twitter Family. A tweet from us earlier in the day was totally inappropriate. As a responsible organization, we do not support or share humor taken too far. And that is what this was; humor taken too far. We take it back and apologize unreservedly.”

Before the apology, however, some of the reactions to the tweet included, @alalkali, who stated: “I have already started a process of closing my acct with @FirstBankngr”

@AHayatu tweeted: “I pray you pay dearly for it, next time employ cheta or mrfixnigeria or oddy to manage your SM presence.”

@eleojo_anago says: “The person handling the account must get a query, warning letter or even terminate his or her appointment today. Banks don’t joke with their image.”

@segilolaa tweeted: “Exactly!! I was appalled when I saw the irritating tweets coming from @FirstBankngr handle.”

@13_xy also tweeted: “There’s a lot of political undertone with the use of those hashtags like #WalkofChange, That’s is clearly a jab at APC as a party with political mantra of “Change.”

0