Peter Okoye Breaks Silence After Language Comment Sparks Backlash

Explaining how the controversy began, Okoye said the debate stemmed from an innocent post about his children speaking French, in which he had mentioned that it made him consider buying a house in Paris, adding that the comment somehow turned into something entirely different from what he intended.

He stressed that he never singled out the Igbo language, insisting he had referred generally to “Naija language,” meaning the different languages spoken across Nigeria, but that some individuals twisted his words to make it appear he had specifically mentioned Igbo, which he denied.

Despite the clarification, he acknowledged that he could have expressed himself better and reiterated that he still took responsibility for how his words were received.

Okoye went on to accuse a critic of deliberately using the controversy as another opportunity to damage his reputation, referencing an open letter he had written two years earlier in which he said attempts to turn people against him would never work.

He maintained that while he accepted the criticism over his statement, acknowledging that people sometimes express themselves poorly or get misunderstood, he believed some individuals had deliberately distorted his words to malign him.

He further claimed that the individual in question had a history of targeting him, recalling an earlier incident in which he was mocked for still dancing at his age, and questioned why the person always seized every opportunity to make derisive comments or join in whenever he was under attack.

Concluding his statement, Okoye warned that he would no longer overlook attacks directed at him, saying he intended to start responding in kind, adding that it would now be “aura for aura, Egusi for Egusi, Oha for Oha.”