Beauty queen wins Miss Universe Nigeria after mom accused of ‘identity theft’

A former Miss South Africa contestant hounded over a nationality row was crowned Miss Universe Nigeria on Saturday local time, capping a difficult few weeks for the beauty queen.

Born to a Nigerian father in South Africa, Chidimma Adetshina withdrew from the country’s competition “for the safety and wellbeing of my family and I” after a backlash that exposed anti-foreigner sentiment in South Africa.

“This journey has been a tough journey for me and I am so proud of myself and I’m really grateful for the love and the support,” the 23-year-old told AFP minutes after being crowned in Nigeria’s capital of Lagos.

“This is something that I’ve always wanted, and I’m really glad that I have a second shot as well at achieving it.”

Her Nigerian heritage attracted vicious xenophobic attacks and sparked controversy when she was announced as a Miss South Africa finalist in July, prompting the government to reveal it was investigating a claim that her mother may have stolen the identity of a South African woman.

“Prima facie reasons exist to believe that fraud and identity theft may have been committed by the person recorded in home affairs records as Chidimma Adetshina’s mother,” South Africa’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement at the time.

“An innocent South African mother, whose identity may have been stolen as part of the alleged fraud committed by Adetshina’s mother, suffered as a result because she could not register her child.”

The ministry added Ms Adetshina herself was not implicated in the scandal as she had been an infant at the time, in 2001.

Despite not being in the country in 20 years, organisers of the Nigerian contest invited her to join their final, saying it was a chance for her to “represent your father’s native land on an international stage”.

“There is enough racism in the world,” Nigeria’s Miss Universe founder, Guy Murray-Bruce, told AFP last month.

“We shouldn’t be fighting with one another. I want Africa, the black continent, to be united.”

Miss Universe Nigeria first runner-up, Paula Ezendu, echoed the sentiment.

“We all need to stop with the xenophobia … with the tribalism. We’re all one family. We’re all human beings,” she told AFP.

The nationality controversy notwithstanding, Ms Adetshina insisted she loved South Arica and was grateful for the support from the country.

She will represent Nigeria at the international Miss Universe competition in November.

“I know we are going to win,” she told reporters.