The comment, *”He is always sad for people in faraway places. For this Agulu ‘sadist’, sadness must be expressed only to calamities befalling outsiders, not tragedies raging in the homestead 🤡,”* in response to Peter Obi’s post expressing sorrow over the Maiduguri flooding, reflects a harsh and unfair criticism. It suggests that Obi selectively expresses empathy for tragedies, implying that he neglects issues closer to home. Such remarks are divisive and diminish the importance of leaders showing compassion for all affected by disasters, regardless of location.
Empathy should not be bound by geography. Leaders, especially those with a national or global platform, are expected to extend concern and solidarity beyond their immediate communities. Comments like these only serve to politicize compassion and derail the focus from the real issue—the suffering caused by the flooding in Maiduguri. Instead of undermining expressions of empathy, we should encourage leaders to show care and action wherever tragedy strikes.
LINKS
https://x.com/peterobi/status/1833973586467401806?s=12