‘I was labelled a thief in school’ — Alex Asogwa recalls past trauma

Alex ‘Unusual’ Asogwa, the ex-Big Brother Naija (BBNaija) housemate, has recalled the traumatic past that shaped her.

In a recent interview on the Unpack podcast, the reality star opened up about how she endured abuse and bullying from family members and colleagues in school.

Alex narrated how she was lashed for giving her aunt’s pigs clean water to drink. The reality TV star, who had visited her aunt during holidays, said she was accused of “intentionally trying to kill the pigs”.

“They had flogged me for giving the pigs clean water instead of dirty water. How in the name of the Lord I am supposed to go and get dirty water to go and give something that is living?” she asked.

“I literally washed all their (pigs) buckets and gave them clean water. Then these pigs refused to drink water all day.

“And next thing they came back and said I was trying to kill the pigs. They were like it was intentional. That I knew what I was doing.”

Alex said during her secondary school days, she was “labelled a thief and perceived to be very stubborn”.

The reality star recounted how she was a victim of mob action after accusations of stealing her colleague’s provisions.

“The reason they were able to label me a thief was something they caused. They would punish me through the night and I would become the last person to leave the hostel the next morning,” she added.

“So when we came back and something was missing it was me that they would hold. And again, I am not a good liar. A friend of mine who offended me, I had packed all her provisions and went to hide them. I returned it to her when she finished crying. So they now said ‘It was Alex that stole it’, not ‘Alex that took it’.

“I went to class one day and everybody was standing outside. I got inside and they started to beat me. They asked me ‘Which biscuit did you eat in class today?’ I told them I did not eat any biscuits. I had not even eaten all day. Everybody just landed on me. They now said somebody saw me eating biscuits in class. They opened my locker and found the provisions of one of the seniors in my corner. They started beating me that day and I called my mother and I told her I did not do what they accused me of.

“A friend even asked me if I had a sickness of people who steal without knowing. They said they needed to take me to church and pray for me.

“The next day everyone went to class and as usual I went to dodge. Then the hostel mistress was like she could see a movement inside the hostel. Some students that were down there started searching and I also joined. I joined them because if anything had gone missing they would have accused me. While everyone went back I searched that part everybody avoided and saw one of the girls at the corner. She had white powder all over her body.”