Popular Nigerian content creator and philanthropist, Asherkine, has addressed the widespread backlash surrounding a recent video in which he treated a local canteen worker to a lavish post-Valentine’s Day date and a surprise trip to Cape Town, South Africa.
The controversy erupted after Asherkine posted a video showing his encounter with a young lady identified as Chiamaka Clare, who claimed to work at a canteen in Ogun State.
According to the footage, Asherkine invited her to Lagos, took her on a shopping spree, bought her gifts, treated her to dinner, and finally surprised the emotional young woman with an all-expense-paid trip to Cape Town.
However, the seemingly heartwarming gesture quickly drew skepticism from social media users. Many accused the content creator of staging the encounter, arguing that Chiamaka’s social media profile, which suggested she might be an interior decorator and a model who had previously traveled abroad, did not align with the “simple canteen worker” narrative portrayed in the video.
The situation also sparked broader questions about the authenticity of Asherkine’s past philanthropic content.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter) in a lengthy post, Asherkine pushed back against the allegations, defending both his content and Chiamaka. He argued that critics were judging her based on unfair stereotypes about how a canteen worker should look.
“I may understand that a bunch of people cannot fathom a young adult living and working in Ogun state, trying to make a way for themselves because she ‘looks too good’ for such a job,” Asherkine wrote. “This person has a sister living in Lagos, it’s a 2 hr drive and she is 21, I have cousins in Ogun state ffs.”
Drawing a parallel to his own journey, he added, ”I was 17 filming entertainers at events just to ‘chase something’ from unilag. I was exactly 20 after grad juggling Ikotun & Chevron to be with Yhemolee, Asake and Ashidapo to document everything I could until YL started paying me and got me to film Olamide & Asake ‘Omo Ope’ and it was up from there.”
Asherkine also addressed claims that the events happened suspiciously fast, clarifying the timeline of the video’s production.
He explained that while his videos are often edited to look like a single day, the events with Chiamaka actually took place over a much longer period.
“I really do understand agenda agending but I won’t let some silly takes ruin this one for her or let y’all undermine videos I create.
“I understand that most of my videos span through the progression of a day but this video spanned over a week after our first meet. I’m unsure how it looks like a 48hr livestream,” he stated.
