Aina Davies, the daughter of the owner of Nike Art Gallery in Lagos, has revealed that popular streamer IShowSpeed was not influenced to choose a Yoruba name over an Igbo name during his visit to Nigeria as part of his Africa tour.

In a video on social media, Davies also said the idea to dress the streamer in a Yoruba attire came from an Igbo lady, dismissing claims that it was forced on him.

She said that when she noticed that the clothes made him look like a proper Yoruba man, she decided to test if he truly had the swag to match the outfit.

She said, "When IShowSpeed was coming, we were with my daughter and my mom. We were greeting him 'happy birthday and Ekaabo' to say welcome. And then, when he came, one of my colleagues came up beside me and said, "We need to dress him up." She's actually not Yoruba; she's from an Igbo state, which doesn't matter.

"She told me to dress him up and so I put on him a beautiful agbada and adorned him with beads, horse tail and a cap, and he loved it very well. I gave him a full tour of the gallery.

"Shortly, I noticed that he was dressed like a full Yoruba guy. So, I said, 'I want you to dance. I want to test your authentic Yoruba self in dancing'. But he said, 'What if I'm Igbo?' I said, 'I think you got the Yoruba swag', because he was fully dressed in Yoruba clothing. I said we might have to do ancestral DNA. But what we can do is give you a traditional name.

"We gave him over one hundred cards and said he should choose three from different regions of Nigeria. From those three, he chose two Yoruba names and one Igbo name."

She said IShowSpeed was then told the meaning of those names. The Igbo name, Ifedima, meaning something good, and one of the Yoruba names, Mojeolaoluwa, shortened to Olu. In response, IShowSpeed excitedly chose Olu

Reacting to the tribal argument that followed the viral video, Davies advised Nigerians to use their diverse languages and cultures for progress, not as a tool for division.

"We've become so fixated on the negative breathing of our difference that it becomes something that divides us instead of something that anchors us," she said.

ASA

https://x.com/NoNonsensezone/status/2016449406434734294