Miss Nigeria 2024 Crowned After Withdrawing From Miss South Africa

As Adetshina progressed in the Miss South Africa pageant, some social media users questioned her eligibility to compete and bombarded Adetshina with xenophobic messages on platforms like X and Instagram.

Following the online outcry, the Miss South Africa organization asked the South African Department of Home Affairs to “verify” Adetshina’s citizenship, the department said in a statement posted on its website on August 7.

In its statement, the ministry said it had launched an investigation and had reason to believe that Adetshina’s mother committed “fraud and identity theft” to obtain citizenship for her daughter in 2001. However, the ministry also said that Adetshina herself could not have been involved in the theft since she was an infant at the time of the events in question.

On August 8, Adetshina announced that she was withdrawing from the Miss South Africa pageant “for the safety and well-being” of her and her family in a statement on Instagram.

On August 14, she shared in a separate Instagram post that the Miss Universe Nigeria pageant had invited her to compete. She won the pageant on August 31.

Adetshina shared on her Instagram on Sunday that she was “honored and humbled” to be crowned Miss Universe Nigeria.

She added that her victory was a “call to action” and that she hoped to use her platform to achieve “African unity.”

“Let’s break down the barriers that divide us,” she captioned her post. “Let’s create a continent where every African can move freely without prejudice, pursue their dreams and contribute to the growth and prosperity of our great continent.”

Adetshina will represent Nigeria at the Miss Universe pageant on November 16. She will face Miss South Africa Mia le Roux, the first deaf contestant to win the Miss South Africa pageant. Miss USA 2024 Alma Cooper, from Michigan, will also be in the running for the title.