By Cynthia Johnson
Winner of Big Brother Naija Season 7, Josephine Otabor, also known as Phyna, has denied abandoning her family after winning the N100 million grand prize.
The reality TV star took to social media to react to a report that claimed her father, Mr. Felix Otabor, lamented in an interview that she had disappeared into thin air and never returned to her parents after winning the show.
Quest Times reports that Phyna threatened to take legal action against the newspaper that published the interview, calling it “false and malicious.”
The reality TV star in the post that has now been deleted on social media wrote, “I am very disappointed and heartbroken by this false and malicious report. I have not abandoned my family. I love my family and they are very important to me. I am currently working on some things and I will be in touch with my family soon.”
Phyna’s reaction has been met with mixed reactions from her fans and followers. Some have expressed their support for her, while others have criticized her for not doing more to help her family;
this_is_debee: “She is just an educated illiterate. Look at who y’all voted for to win such huge amount of money. That’s how journalism works in any part of the world. Vanguard is a reputable media organization that reports facts. It is not a blog or an online platform without office that scribble anything for clicks. They have more than enough readers worldwide. After hearing from her father, the reporter was trying to balance the story to hear her part but because it is the truth, she was ashamed and couldn’t defend herself and now she’s pretentiously throwing tantrums here. Did you or did you not abandon your parents after winning the grand prize?”
amazingronke: “This is so wrong. Everyone in the comments bashing her like Vanguard has a right to publish this nonsense… if you don’t like Phyna put it aside and see the truth first. What stupid statement is that at the end.”
cheeckar: “The journalist may have even interviewed her dad before calling her. In all of phyna’s outburst, she didn’t address the crux of the matter. You abandon your family Abi you no abandon them? Saying the journalist contacted you to start bombarding you with questions and later sent a message to apologize even further agrees with what the journalist said.”
Balo_ng: “This one go sweet chichi.” toxicbuddy’: “A journalist called to hear your own side of the story before going ahead to publish, but you ignored him. What do you expect? He went ahead and published the story as he was told by your own father. The text exchange between the both of you is enough evidence that he did his due diligence as a journalist to reach out before putting out the story. Please don’t waste your money on any lawyer.”
Aemaekaaar: “Inasmuch as it is a family issue, phyna failed to mention in her response whether that was her father’s statements or not . Did Njoku make a false post? You can go on with the rest ….”
coco_ria_02: “Nigerians always patiently waiting for any bad news to believe so they can hide their own sorry lives and shame you.”
haarnnarh: “You run commot for house Abi you no run. The fact you didn’t even debunk the allegations. go and help your family oo cos one of the reasons we voted you was because of your poor background so you will leave the ghetto so help your family if nah to fight your imaginary enemies you go type from morning till night Toor.”
Balo_ng: “This one go sweet chichi.”
toxicbuddy‘: “A journalist called to hear your own side of the story before going ahead to publish, but you ignored him. What do you expect? He went ahead and published the story as he was told by your own father. The text exchange between the both of you is enough evidence that he did his due diligence as a journalist to reach out before putting out the story. Please don’t waste your money on any lawyer.”