I am really shocked by the way some unpatriotic Nigerians have gone on social media, misrepresenting IShowSpeed’s visit to Nigeria and using it to project a negative image of their very own country, while attempting to spoil what was a good narrative of a very successful visit.

First of all, IShowSpeed never said or implied that Nigeria is smelly. The young man perhaps achieved his most successful stream during his African tour in Nigeria, reaching a milestone of 50 million YouTube subscribers whilst in our dearly beloved country. He is the first Black streamer to achieve that milestone, and it occurred in Nigeria, boosted by Nigerian subscribers appreciative of his visit.

What these few unpatriotic Nigerians, who have a grudge against their own country, fed by a separatist agenda, have done is take a screenshot of a particular stream where Mr Darren Jason Watkins Jr made a face for a few seconds, which he often does all over the world, upon sighting something interesting and peculiar.

Using that snapshot, they painted a false narrative claiming that Lagos is smelly and that Darren Jason Watkins Jr, AKA IShowSpeed, did not enjoy his time there and found nothing interesting or cultural to do. Sadly, their claims have gone wildly viral.

In fact, as evidenced by his streams and media coverage, IShowSpeed had perhaps the most eventful moments of his Speed Does Africa tour in Nigeria, which is why he chose to spend his 21st birthday in our country.

He drew his biggest crowds here and was so impressed by that that he testified about it. He had gastronomical and cultural experiences, including visiting Freedom Park and eating the world-famous Nigerian jollof rice, which he raved about.

Thereafter, he had a belated Detty December moment by interacting with street dancers in a carnival-like manner, and had intermittent encounters and conversations with street performers, including a man whose physical strength he celebrated after attempting and failing to match his iron-bending skills.

iShowSpeed also enjoyed Nigerian couture when he got to wear the special Nigerian hat, known as a Fila, made in Nigeria from entirely from made-in-Nigeria fabric. Something that I have been promoting worldwide.

His decision to blend in culturally with Nigerians through fashion made him so excited that he asked street vendors and onlookers whether he “looked Nigerian”.

And on his 21st birthday, iShowSpeed was surrounded by schoolchildren in their school uniforms, singing the famous Happy Birthday song to him, almost bringing him to tears.

At Freedom Park, iShowSpeed interacted with various Lagos street performers, who taught the quick learner several dance steps particularly suited to the Nigerian music genre of Afrobeats that has taken the world by storm.

iShowSpeed then visited the Nike Art Gallery in Lekki, where the management feted him and gifted him a traditional Lukumi Yoruba outfit, which left him in awe.

Mr Watkins next met Afrobeats singer Zlatan Ibile, who surprised him with a birthday cake, prompting iShowSpeed to shockingly reveal that that was the first birthday cake he had ever received. Hard to believe!

His time in Nigeria has become one of the most discussed pop-culture moments of the year so far, and he was so pleased with Nigeria that one of the first things he did when he visited neighbouring Benin Republic was to seek out Nigerians there to continue catching the fun that mesmerised him in Nigeria.

Finally, it is not true that the streamer left Nigeria in a hurry after spending only a day in our beautiful country. The truth is that he has only 28 days to visit 20 African countries, and, other than South Africa, where he spent three days, he spent approximately 24 hours in each country.

At the beginning of the tour, when he had more time, he spent more days in countries, but as the tour wore on and he observed the logistical challenges of visiting the proposed 20 nations, pragmatism forced him to allocate his time more prudently.

In no other country did Mr Watkins enjoy such an action-packed 24 hours, which is why he claimed he was a Nigerian, even saying he was likely Igbo, and named himself Emeka!

From the above, it is clear that the narrative crafted by some unpatriotic Nigerians and blown out of proportion by fellow Africans who do not understand pan-Africanism is nothing but a pathetic lie told by people who have already failed in their unfortunate attempts at setting the United States against Nigeria and are desperate to reignite their negative agenda for Nigeria after seeing the Trump administration cooperating with our great country instead of invading it.