The recently crowned Miss Universe Nigeria, Chidimma Adetshina who withdrew from the Miss South Africa beauty pageant due to controvery over her nationality, has addressed the claims that she won the Miss Universe Nigeria competition out of pity.

Adetshina had earlier been forced to withdraw from the South African beauty pageant due to xenophobic backlash and rejection over her nationality. The 23-year-old law student came to Nigeria afterwards, after accepting an invitation by the President of the Silverbird Group, Guy Murray-Bruce to participate in the Miss Universe Nigeria 2024 pageant competition.

She was announced the winner of the competition at the grand finale which was held at Eko Hotels & Suites, Lagos, on the 31st of August. The competition had a total of 25 participants.

During an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday, Adetshina made it clear that she worked hard and earned her spot as the winner of the pageant. She said, “A lot of people felt like it was a pity win. I don’t think so. I feel like I really worked hard, coming from the SA journey. We spent like 10 weeks, camp, going through the whole journey. It might have been a slight difference compared to everybody else, but if you have to look at the journey that we’ve all been through, I feel like I really had the same experience that they did.”

Adetshina also clarified that her departure from South Africa in order to participate in the Miss Universe Nigeria 2024 pageant competition was not because she was running away from the South African Home Affairs and the legal issues that arose from claims that she had a stolen identity. Instead, she wanted to chase her dream of becoming a pageant queen.

She said, “I really avoided the questions because it is a legal matter and I do not have all the facts around the matter, but what I can say is that I was not running away from any of that. I was just running because I knew I had a dream that I wanted to fulfil. I am aware of the matter, not fully aware of everything that is going on. I am not on social media right now. I am avoiding all of those things. But what I can speak on is that I know I did not steal anyone’s identity. I am still waiting for the conclusion on the whole case and the whole matter and then moving forward, I’ll know what to say. I feel like now, if I say something and then something comes out tomorrow, it could be like ‘but you said this and then something else’. I am just avoiding all those two things contradicting one another.”

Adetshina however emphasised the importance of embracing diversity saying, “Are we not supposed to be appreciating one another and accepting one another? Just because I have such a diverse background and you might not have that diverse background, that does not necessarily mean that we are so different from each other. We should learn how to educate one another on how even though someone might not be as diverse as you are, we can still come together and we can still learn each other’s cultures, we can still learn from one another and really come together and be in each other’s space and appreciate one another.”

She further expressed preparedness for the Miss Universe competition in Mexico this November saying, “I’ve seen the nice criticism where people are always telling me ‘listen, these are things that you need to work on’ and I feel like it’s really a good thing that I get this criticism from people on the outside because at the end of the day, they are the ones that are watching me and I only want to provide the best, not only for myself but for my country as well. So, I have to work on things like my walk, my presence, how I am going to present the country really well on that stage. So, I am just trying to gather everything together.” (AriseNews TV)

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