Chidimma Adetshina topped Miss Universe Nigeria after quitting South African pageant attributable to xenophobia

Lagos, Nigeria
CNN
 — 

Chidimma Adetshina, a beauty pageant contestant who confronted a wave of hostility in South Africa after questions arose about her nationality, has been topped Miss Universe Nigeria.

Adetshina, age 23, triumphed on the pageant held in Lagos on Saturday night time. She’s going to symbolize Nigeria within the Miss Universe competitors in Mexico in November.

Final month, she stop the Miss South Africa contest after turning into the goal of xenophobic on-line assaults and later accepted an invite to compete within the Nigerian pageant.

Many South Africans had questioned her eligibility to take part of their nation’s contest after stories emerged that she was born to a Nigerian father and a South African mom with Mozambican roots.

Organizers of Miss Universe Nigeria mentioned on the time that Adetshina’s invitation was “a possibility to symbolize her father’s homeland on a global stage.” They added that her “journey in pageantry is way from over.”

Writing on Instagram after her victory, Adetshina mentioned it was “a dream come true,” describing the crown as “not only a image of magnificence” however “a name to motion” for a united Africa.

“As I settle for this honor, I need to share a imaginative and prescient that burns deeply inside me, a imaginative and prescient of African unity and peaceable coexistence!” she wrote in a statement on her Instagram web page.

“Let’s break down the boundaries that divide us. Let’s foster a continent the place each African can transfer freely with out prejudice, pursue their desires, and contribute to the expansion and prosperity of our nice continent,” the assertion added.

South African authorities say they’re working to make clear Adetshina’s citizenship standing after the nation’s Dwelling Affairs division, which oversees immigration, mentioned her mom might have dedicated identification fraud to acquire South African citizenship in 2001.

The division, nevertheless, exonerated Adetshina of any wrongdoing, saying she was simply an toddler on the time.