Nigerian model represents Cameroon at Miss University Africa 2017

Obiora Blessing is the representative for Cameroon at this year’s Miss University Africa in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. But here’s the problem, she is a Nigerian student in Cameroon.

Obiora Blessing is a 23-year-old model, blogger and beauty enthusiast who currently studies Business Management at the University of Buea. How did a Nigerian become the Cameroonian representative at the Miss University Africa 2017? She simply entered the competition.

The organizers of Miss University Africa Cameroon has reportedly been slammed for selecting a foreigner to represent the country’s honor at a continental pageant which also features a Nigerian representative.

“I really don’t understand this… Is it that the organizers in Cameroon didn’t know Obiora is a Nigerian or didn’t care if she was?” one fan asks us. 

“This simply means Nigeria has two representatives in one beauty competition in Africa. How does this even sound to the ears?” another disgruntled fan blasts.

All these unanswered questions and raised issues only lead us to one question: Do international beauty contest participants necessarily represent their countries of origin?

We visited the official website for Miss University Africa for answers but we were told its on “temporary maintenance”.

Back in 2015, vietnamnews.vn reported that Nguyen Van Son,  a member of the national Taekwondo team in Vietnam was fined up to VND30 million (US$1,500) for competing in Mister Global 2015 in Thailand. The Vietnamese authorities said they would not recognize a local man’s victory at a beauty contest in Thailand, because he entered without the State’s permission.

We also wondered what a Vietnamese model was doing in a Thai beauty contest.

DCODERS, what do you think about Obiora Blessing representing Cameroon at the Miss University Africa 2017 Pageant?