Erica Nlewedim, an actress and former housemate on BBNaija, has responded to those who have made fun of her for her bad attempt at speaking Igbo.
A video of the actress trying to speak Igbo went viral.
Many Igbos expressed their disapproval of the video, which showed Erica having difficulty speaking her native Igbo language.
While some made fun of her fluency, others used harsh language, referring to her by name and raising doubts about who she was.
She responded by confronting the criticism and denouncing what she called “deeply ingrained self-hatred” among the Igbo community.
“Look at my Igbo people in the comments showing how much they hate their own! Continue but please don’t complain when others don’t show you love,” she wrote. “You can’t be so openly divided against your own people and expect trust from outsiders!”
Responding to another user who joked about her “struggling” with the language, Erica clapped back with:
“Don’t you think it’s foolish for someone to choose to become your enemy because you can’t speak a language? You don’t even see other tribes insulting themselves for not speaking their language. They are united!”
She added:
“Is it your first instinct to insult someone who is [from your tribe] but can’t speak the language? And use words like pig, bitch, shame etc? Of course not! We on the other hand need to learn love and unity,” she added.
While some agreed with her, others felt she was fanning tribal tensions unnecessarily by referencing other ethnic groups. One user replied that her tweet “could have made the same point without dragging anyone else.”
View tweets below
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