Social media influencer Blessing Nkiruka Okoro, popularly known as Blessing CEO, has admitted to fabricating a breast cancer diagnosis to solicit financial support from the public.
She had announced in March that she was battling the disease but faced widespread backlash in April following a fundraising appeal to finance her supposed cancer treatment.
Blessing also disclosed that she received N13 million in donations from the public, dismissing reports that she raised N100 million.
Her admission comes after businessman Alafaa Kariboye-Igbo claimed he transferred N20 million to her and subsequently demanded a refund.
However, she later addressed controversy surrounding her health, arguing that she does not have ‘stage 4’ breast cancer.
In a recent interview with VeryDarkman, the social media activist, she revealed that financial pressure pushed her to stage the fundraising appeal. She also admitted that she never had cancer.
“The pressure was too much, and when the cancer drama came in, because of the pressure, I saw this embarrassment coming, then I said to myself, what stunt can I pull? Then I pull up a cancer stunt,” she said.
“I don’t have cancer. Honestly, I don’t have cancer. But the truth is, I had gone for check up few month ago and they found a lump on my boobs but it was not cancerous.
“So I took advantage of that, came to the media to cry for help and said that it was cancerous. Some people had empathy.”
She said she did not initially intend to share her account details publicly but did so after fans encouraged her to accept donations.
“I didn’t come out to beg for funds; I am going to be very honest. I played an emotional game. I wanted funds, but I didn’t come out directly to ask. I first of all started by pretending that I wanted to sell my personal belongings, my car, my house, so people had empathy,” she said.
“It was fans who reached out to me and said that if we can do this for an ordinary person not feeling well, why not you as a celebrity. Put out your account number. So that was when I put out my account number.
“Donations were rolling in. I was honoured until VeryDarkMan came and said, ‘Ah, people cannot be donating money for Blessing when there is no evidence.’ Immediately, he made that video; donations paused.
“So, I was like, oh, what do I do? That was when the whole orchestration, results and all that came up. I am not proud of what I did. I was able to raise ₦30 million for the whole cancer drama.”