After her return to her father’s home country of Nigeria, the recently crowned Miss Universe Nigeria, Chidimma Adestshina is ready to immerse herself in the local traditions of her country fully.
The last two months have been a roller coaster of a ride for the 22-year-old model. This comes after she faced plenty of online uproar for participating in the 2024 Miss South Africa pageant. This is after it was discovered that she is not of South African heritage, with a mother who is Mozambican and a Nigerian father.
Just days before the pageant’s grand finale, Chidimma released a statement announcing her withdrawal. Meanwhile, she was later provided a lifeline by Miss Universe Nigeria organisers, who followed her journey closely – and soon after, she was crowned with the top honours.
View this post on Instagram
After being crowned Miss Universe Nigeria, Chidimma intends to make up for the lost times, and fully embrace her Nigerian heritage. This comes as she previously only visited the country as a three-year-old but spent most of her life in South Africa.
In an interview with Arise News, she shared that she always wanted to return to Nigeria.
“I’m basically excited to learn the language. I am Igbo, but I don’t know the Igbo language.”
“I want to learn, and I’m not saying this now because I’m Miss Universe Nigeria; I’ve always wanted to, especially in South Africa, where I stayed in Cape Town which is Nigerian-populated.”
She added that with other Nigerians living in Cape Town, she has always felt in touch with her heritage, but that feeling has now intensified as she has now returned to her father’s homeland.
Meanwhile, she refused to comment on the ongoing investigation, concerning identity theft and fraud, which her mother had been involved in, and said that she was waiting for investigations to conclude before commenting on the matter.
Also see: Chidimma Adetshina’s ID and passports might be seized for investigation
