Plumpy Ufa Dania might not have gone far in the recent Miss Universe Nigeria pageant, but she has won many fans over in Nigeria and South Africa.
Miss Dania who represented Kwara State in the pageant was trending on social media as the first plus-size contestant in The Miss Universe Nigeria pageant and according to her; ladies of her size were happy to see her in the contest and that gave joy after initially having anxiety over her participation.
“A lot of them see themselves in me, especially South African ladies. They saw someone they could relate with on a much deeper level. They saw something in me that other people were not seeing.” Dania told Channels TV, during an interview Thursday.
She noted that participating in the beauty contest was quite a challenge.
“It was quite a lot. To me it was much worse than the NYSC camp. You wake up by 5am and you don’t sleep until like 12am the next day.
“The heels you have to wear, that was my biggest fear. That was the toughest part for me.”
She encouraged more plus sized women, to express themselves any venture they decide to undertake.
“Never doubt yourself or look down on yourself, never tell yourself that you are not good enough or not pretty enough. You have everything within you that you need to succeed in life.”
“Before I had applied, I was having a lot of anxiety and fear because of the backlash that I could probably get and people’s bias; people believe that beauty only comes in one form. It scares me but I’m someone who tries to be daring.”
The beauty queen remarked that she’s ready to visit South Africa as long as South Africans are ready to fund her trip.
“Tell South Africa to send me money. I’ll be there immediately. I’m waiting for them, my passport is with me anywhere I go to, so when they call me to go, I’m out.
“I just feel like South Africans and Nigerians need to realize that we are all Africans, we are all brothers and sisters. It doesn’t matter whether you’re from Nigeria or Gabon or Côte d’Ivoire. We all share the same type of skin, similar cultures and traditions. We need to keep apart what happened thousands of years ago and focus on now. We need to heal from all the past things that have happened. We may be from different countries, but we are still one.”
