Chidimma’s Success Against all Odds

Achieving a feat is not always easy, especially where there are obvious forces working against it. For those who do not have the courage to go on with the achievement, they give up and agree within themselves that the universe is working strongly against them that there is no win for them no matter how they try, and for those that decide to stand strong and fight to win, there is the struggle, fear and hard work that goes on to achieve it. Two things are involved however, it is either they win or they don't, but by the time they get to that stage they would be grateful for at least trying all their best and being strong amidst difficulty. 

The Story of rejection and success

Chidimma, born Chidimma Vanessa Onwe Adetshina, is a 23 year-old beauty queen born in Soweto, South Africa to a Nigerian father and Mozambican mother. In the recently concluded Miss Universe competition that was held in Mexico, she emerged as the second runner up, and earned Nigeria’s highest placement ever in the pagent’s history. 

Recall that the 23 year-old faced some complications on her pageantry journey which originally began in South Africa when she competed in Miss South Africa and reached top 30. Factors like her marital status, Nigerian name and family background, marked the beginning of these complications. Before the uproar became bigger, reports from PREMIUM TIMES has it that Chidimma used to be married but got divorced in February 2024 and she has a year-old son out of wedlock. This discovery brought about criticisms when she joined the Miss South Africa competition. Netizens began their disapproval from then and filed for her to be excused from the competition because she is a divorcee and nuturing mother, however the organizers maintained their stance on the basis of Chidimma’s citizenship (which is valid on the evidence of her birth, descent and naturalisation) and ethical behavior, hence her eligibility to participate, which she did and reached top 30.

Chidimma's participation continued to raise more concerns from netizens about a Nigerian participating in an event designed for South Africans. The concerns generated into questions about her background and deep investigation on whether or not she indeed is a South African. The loud outcry from citizens caused the government's involvement in the case and an eventual investigation by the South African Home Affairs department to find out Chidinma's History. The result of the investigation revealed some complications and issues with her mother-Anabela Rungu's citizenship, pointing to a possible theft of identity and illegal citizenship. How the whole issue played out, involving xenophobic attacks and threats to life consequently led to her decision to withdraw from the Miss South Africa competition in an announcement she made on her social media page on the 8th of August, stating that the decision was ‘ for the safety and wellbeing of my family’. 

Amidst this tussle, the Miss Nigeria pageantry organizers extended an invitation to Chidimma to compete as Miss Taraba state for the Miss Nigeria title. Being a dual citizen of Nigeria, she was granted a diplomatic visa by the Nigerian embassy. This was highly cheered by Nigerian netizens as they rallied support towards her. The competition, which was held on 31st August, went well and she got the first position, qualifying her for Miss Universe competition in Mexico. 

This feat did not sit down well with the South African netizens as well as their government and Chidimma continued to receive backlash. This went on and on and even developed into the ‘remove Chidimma from Miss Universe competition’ petition filed by South Africans- the petition states:

‘‘We are greatly concerned about Chidimma Adetshina, Miss Universe Nigeria, whose mother has been found guilty of committing identity fraud. We are writing on behalf of everyone who stands for justice to plead with Miss Universe to cancel her entry’’

 Eventually, the South African Home Affairs Department made an announcement on 29th October, on their social media page of their stance to revoke Chidimma and her mother’s citizenship and make their documents null and void on the basis of identity fraud according to preliminary evidence gathered- this stance was further approved by court order.

Despite the trajectory and unfolding of the whole devastating events that sprung up just as she was able to achieve her dreams, the beauty queen stood strong and went ahead with the competition, emerging the first runner-up out of over 100 participants from different countries all over the world. She was also crowned the first ever Miss Universe Africa and Oceania by a panel of Miss Universe judges. 

Most Recent Chidimma news

In a recent interview with Cool FM, Chidimma stated her decision to move to Nigeria and the possibility of not go8ng back to South Africa - she states: “ It’s been amazing. I’m not even looking forward to going back to South Africa. I just want to explore more. I want to stay longer and see what happens next.”

In another interview with Silverbird TV, Chidimma disclosed her decision to quit pageantry saying: 

“I want to put pageantry aside for now and focus more on my education and establishing who Chidimma is. I want to delve more into runway modelling, acting, and explore many other areas. There are so many things I would like to try and see where my potential can take me.”

As for clarity on the identity theft/illegal citizenship issue that Chidimma is still dealing with, promises were made to shed more light when it has all been sorted out.

Lessons leanrt

From the foregoing , Chidimma’s story has clearly shown the power of determination, resilience, faith and hope. Imagine being a mother out of wedlock, being divorced early in marriage and criticised for it, Imagine being shamed, insulted and termed ‘ineligible’, ‘unfit’ and ‘unworthy’ of success, many would have accepted the invalidation and called it their ‘fate’, many would have worn hopelessness like a robe and allowed in mystery, but Chidimma stood high and went ahead to chase her dreams anyways.

What does this tell us?

Hopelessness is never an option, it should not be chanced!

Moreover, whilst we tell ourselves to face our fears and not apper weak, we must also know when to apply knowledge and when to step away from things when they threaten our right to life. It was a good decision on Chidimma’s part to step away from the Miss South Africa pageantry in order to keep her and her family safe and it was wise as well to receive help and be strong enough to make use of the resources and supports she got to achieve her dreams.

In short, life is full of ups and downs which we will face once, twice or more in our lifetimes, we should stand strong, cry small when it becomes overwhelming, stand up again and come up even stronger to face our fears. And in the business of facing our fears, the application of wisdom should be top most!