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The model who was forced to withdraw from South African beauty pageant, Miss Chidimma Adetshina, has emerged winner of 2024 Miss Universe pageant in Nigeria.
The 23-year-old law student came to Nigeria after accepting to participate in the competition following her controversial withdrawal from Miss South Africa 2024 due to xenophobic backlash over her nationality.
The President of Silverbird Group, organisers of the competition, Guy Murray-Bruce, announced Adetshina as the winner at the grand finale which held at Eko Hotels & Suites, Lagos, on Saturday night.
The winner represented Taraba State in the keenly contested competition, which had a total of 25 participants.
Adetshina will receive N10 million in cash along with other prizes as well as representing Nigeria at the Miss Universe pageant in Mexico this November.
Born to a Nigerian father, and a Mozambique mother, she was raised in Soweto, a South African city.
The model stood a good chance in the South African competition until a torrent of abuse from some South Africans who claimed she was not qualified to contest in the pageant because her father is not South African.
South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, Leon Schreiber, initiated an investigation into Adetshina’s citizenship following a request from the Miss South Africa organisers and outcry from South Africans.
The ministry subsequently said after investigating Chidinma’s roots, it discovered that the identity of an “innocent” South African mother may have been stolen by Adetshina’s mother.
