The social media (especially Twitter) was on Thursday set on fire as one of the first generation banks, FirstBank mocked Lagosians over the inconveniences experienced by President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the state.
The bank through its official Twitter handle, @FirstBankngr posted series of tweets apparently mocking the traffic stress Lagosians were made to go through while the president visited.
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.
— FirstBank Nigeria (@FirstBankngr) March 29, 2018
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday arrived Lagos for a two-day official visit. He attended the 10<sup>th</sup> Bola Ahmed Tinubu Colloquium held at the Eko Hotel in commemoration of the 66<sup>th</sup> Birthday Anniversary of former Lagos Governor and national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The president’s two-day official visit to the state disrupted traffic and caused residents to embark on long walk to their destinations.
“Lagosians how far…. How was the trek this morning? The people still trekking, how’s the #WalkOfChange going,” the bank tweeted around 11:18 am on Thursday from its Twitter handle @FirstBankngr.
When a Twitter user (@Jenn_nikolas) tweeted at the bank that its tweet was “terrible to look at”, the bank offered a sarcastic response, “Don’t look. Keep trekking”.
Another Twitter user (@omookwah) told FirstBank, “This is an epic fail in attempt to ‘hijack’ an issue. You lost the ‘emotional’ drift to this and got caught on the wrong side of story. Always remember…. Market share and mindshare.”
“Story,” the bank responded.
FirstBank later pulled back after its tweets attracted barrage of criticisms.
“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,” the bank tweeted around 2:14 pm on Thursday.
