Omotara, a popular Nigerian influencer better known as Motara, has been banned from Twitter after video surfaced of her teasing a homeless child with a cold drink from inside her car. The cruel act was captured on film and shared by Motara herself, who quickly drew public criticism and condemnation for her behavior. Now, she’s been barred from posting on the social media network at all as her account was suspended.
- The video is heartbreaking. In the clip, 25-year-old Motara is driving through a neighborhood and seems to offer a bottle of cold drink to a child beggar outside. The child comes closer, desperate to get the drink, only for Motara to keep it away from the kid before laughing in her face and driving off.
- Motara herself says she grew up without money. Motara, who grew up in Ibadan, in the south west of Nigeria, said she and her brother were raised solely by her mother after her father abandoned the family when she was only six, according to BBC Pidgin. They lived in a one-bedroom apartment and struggled to make ends meet despite her mother’s hard work. Therefore, she should know better than anyone just how hard it is to live in poverty.
- The family was so poor at one point, Motara became suicidal. She also revealed that while she studied microbiology at Polytechnic of Ibadan, she became depressed when the family didn’t have the money to complete an important project. Her uncle offered to help financially, but she admits she was “angry at the world” and became suicidal as a result.
- She hasn’t apologized but Motara does regret what she did. Motara has yet to apologize for her actions, but she has insisted she regrets what she did and has tried to make it right with the young girl she taunted so cruelly. “I just wan apologize because evritin just dey happen fast fast. I no even know what else to do. I don go look for di girl. I go on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and I go still go there today,” she told BBC Pidgin.
- She’s since lost many of her endorsements as well. Di Brothers Keeper, an energy drink company that employed Motara as a public relations officer, has since terminated her contracted, branding her behavior “degrading and demeaning.” Perhaps that’s the reason Motara truly regrets her behavior.
