In the last couple of days, controversial Nigerian entertainer, Charly Boy has been trying to make amends with his lesbian daughter, Dewy Oputa following their previous fall out.
Although Charly Boy has publicly apologized for the ill-treatment of his daughter after she came out as a lesbian. According to the veteran Nigerian singer-songwriter and activist, it was tedious for him to accept that his last daughter was in a homosexual relationship.
Despite Charly Boy claiming he has accepted his daughter’s sexuality, Dewy has dragged him on the microblogging site, Twitter. She dubbed her father a hypocrite and also mentioned that he only made the post for clout sake.
Dewy also admonished her father to distance himself from the topic of her sexuality.
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Following the backlash, Charly Boy has now taken to social media to apologize to his daughter once again and also used the medium to appeal to members of the LGBTQ community.
He stated that his perspective as a parent was myopic, however, he has broadened his understanding as a modern-day parent.
Acknowledging his homophobic statement in time, Charly wrote:
“Any Fool can have a child and call themselves a Parent.
A real Parent is someone who puts that child above their own selfish needs.”
In another post, he addressed his daughter’s criticisms and said it has opened his eyes and exposed him to the huge growing community of LGBTQ people in Nigeria.
He went on to advise parents who have LGBTQ children to be more understanding.
He wrote:
“Urgent Info for Parents.
Hummm, ogaooo.
I swear Parenting is not an easy somethingoooo.
Na me and my Baby, Dewy dey trend these days.
Shey una see as my Princess dey tackle me
My post a few days ago, about my daughters
right to her sexuality, opened my eyes and exposed me to
the Huge growing community of LGTBQ’s in Nigeria.
Ol boy, e shock me. I can’t lie.”
In the latter part of his post, Charly Boy spoke about the growing LGBT community in the country.
He revealed that several youths in the country are afraid of coming out to their parents. He urged Nigerian parents to listen to their kids and accept them to who they are.
Continue reading what he wrote:
“My People, as I wake yesterday I set up a hotline for young people who have challenges communicating with their parent/parents, who needed a listening ear. I was on the phone, from 9 am till 11.45 pm,
recorded over a thousand calls before I lost count.
I had to shut down, my ears don full.
I heard stories dat made me teary eyed, the emotional trauma the LGTBQs community is going through amongst the numerous wahala we face in dis country.”
Speaking to African parents, he wrote:
Parents must understand that sometimes their child will probably not live the life they dreamed for them and this has nothing to do with being good parents or bad parents.
“Our influence and nurture for our kids it’s not more than 25%, 75% of their lives is under attack by external influences, social media, peer pressure, what they pickup in school, etc etc.
We should sometimes allow our children to unfold but not without guidance and laying good values, morals, believe in self and always encouraging them to be their authentic self, as they grow.
Our children have their own hang ups you must know., weather you feel they are childish, immature or fall short of your picture of them. They’ve struggles too and suffer from internal turmoil—don’t make them feel any worse. Imagine their internal struggle when these confusing feelings arise.
Our society is filled with hypocrisy, lesbianism/homosexuality started way before social media, predominantly in the north. Now, it in our churches, Nollywood, House of assembly, even in Aso Rock, it’s everywhere my People, and we must educate ourselves to have a better understanding of this phenomenon.”
