‘I wasn’t expelled’ — UNN student twerking in viral video breaks silence

Mirabel Obi, a student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), who went viral for twerking, says she was not expelled as rumoured.

Mirabel, the 100-level student of medical laboratory sciences, became a sensation on social media after a video of her participating in a dancing contest surfaced online.

The video clip had sparked controversies, with many Nigerians expressing their different views on social media platforms.

An official of the institution, who reportedly saw her while dancing, was also said to have threatened to facilitate her expulsion from the school.

In a recent interview, she said the backlash that trailed the viral video has left her unsettled that she started yielding to suicidal thoughts.

“At the moment I wasn’t even myself I was just thinking maybe I should just kill myself because I don’t even know my way around,” she said.

“I just had to pass the night in a person’s place; someone I don’t even have a connection with… I didn’t eat that night and the next day because I wasn’t thinking straight at the moment.

“The kind of thoughts I had in my head was that I should just take sniper and die.”

The interview comes at about the same time when the student took to her Instagram page to share her own account of the incident.

In the lengthy post, the student said she was not expelled as claimed. She also said that the dancing competition was for a cash prize of N30,000, not N10,000 as rumoured.

Mirabel added that her post was to address several “fake news” making the rounds about the viral video.

“Normally I would let this slide because I am not clout chasing and I owe no one an explanation, but, am tired of seeing different fake news on the story and at this moment, I feel it is pertinent to address this issue publicly. This is the real story behind it all,” she wrote.

“My name is Mirabel, a medical student of UNN. On the 28th, October 2021, there was an awareness for a concert in the school. Awareness is what people do almost everytime and what comes with it is usually a dance competition and that day, we were competing for 30k.

“I happened to be one of the contenders. I have watched a lot of girls compete in the past and what they wore was nothing better than mine.

“It was equivalent to what I wore and sometimes worse, because after all, we feel we are dancing in front of our fellow females, but then I feel the amount I made was the reason for the video going viral.

“The dean of student affairs got hold of the video and I really do not know what they told him about me that made him rage in so much anger and also to make the decision to expel me.

“Here are the points am trying to make: I am not and was never expelled because we all know that you cannot expel a student on the ground of twerking.

“We were all dancing in front of the girls hostel, and there was never a place that twerking is violating the school rules and regulations.

“Twerking has nothing to with my academics because you can’t even make it to be a medical student in UNN without crossing 300 and above in ur JAMB. I am still very serious and I know how to balance my social/academic life.

“It was never a competition for 10k. It was 30k.”

Mirabel said she had endured humiliation since the video went viral, alleging that she was also harassed in the process.

“I wasn’t expelled, I repeat I was only harassed without being heard from (the authorities in question badged into my hostel and ransacked my properties),” she added.

“Ever since then, I have faced so much humiliation, I don’t even know how to come out anymore, I keep wondering if it was really worth it.

“A lot of my properties have been damaged and some are nowhere to be found like how do you invade someone’s privacy.”

The institution is yet to react as of the time of this report.