A quiet Friday at the University of Ibadan’s Political Science department turned into a digital sensation when Adegoke Peter, a 200-level student, became an unlikely internet star. Bloggers and social media users were abuzz after Peter shared a before-and-after post on his X profile, showcasing a remarkable transformation after a year of studies at the University.
The sarcastic caption accompanying the photos, comparing his 100-level and 200-level looks, was meant to joke at his dramatic changes. But little did Peter know, his humorous post would soon be trending across popular Nigerian blogs, with headlines like “Student ‘inspires’ his colleagues abroad with his ‘amazing’ transformation in just one year of schooling in Nigeria.”
From his post, Peter’s visible weight loss and physical changes sparked a lot of controversy in the comment sections. Comment sections on various blogs and social media platforms were flooded with speculations and accusations, ranging from hard drug abuse to gambling addiction, poor hygiene, and economic hardship. Some users, like pretty_petite_thing on Instagram, insinuated that Peter’s weight loss was “crack-induced,” claiming, “We all went to uni. We know what caused this. Has nothing to do with uni.” Others, like Timmygbuyiro, countered, “Everything no be drugs, if serious Sapa [economic hardship] catch you, you will start looking like a mad man.”
To separate fact from fictitious assertions from blog posts and uninformed deliberations from the comment sections, a correspondent from POSSPRESS reached out to Peter to get his side of the story on his transformation which sparked the debates. During the interview, Peter revealed the picture was a comment under a post made by a UITE popularly known as “Timbhoe” and the major reason he participated in the trend was because Timbhoe was a UITE.
However, Peter said he didn’t anticipate the level of attention his post received. He stated, “I posted the pictures to get engagement, but I didn’t expect this level of attention. I was tired and needed to sleep, but when I woke up, I started receiving calls from friends in Lagos, Ogun state, and even my brothers, telling me my picture was on media.
During the interview, Peter also revealed that the pictures he posted that the pictures he posted were not actually from his 100-level and 200-level years, but from before he gained admission into the University and when he was in 100lv. “…. the actual truth is that the first frame was before I resumed the University as a student and the second one was during my Fresher’s orientation during Mr Victor’s led administration It is not the current 200-level picture and likewise as I said at the beginning X app is an avenue for engagement.”
While addressing the comment made by most social media users that his transformation was induced by the use of hard drugs, he fervently denied being a drug user. In his words, “I’m not into drugs, and I’m open for any medical test and if there is any trace of drugs in me am guilty of it.”
To round up the interview, Peter attributed his weight loss to a combination of stress, limited financial resources, adjusting to new responsibilities and shouldering the burden of sponsoring his education, feeding himself, and managing expenses with no external support. “Imagine you are the one sponsoring your education and feeding yourself, without any support from relatives. Also with the current fees now, overthinking is part of it and lastly adding the class Rep duty to it. Though, I’m not blaming it on anything, Stress plays most of the role and there is also some difference in the way I used to make money before resuming compared to now that I am a student. Most times, when I get back from class after a long lecture day I have no option but to sleep not that I don’t have food but as a male child, when my parents were alive I didn’t do anything which affected me and birth my laziness in cooking and I don’t buy food outside because I don’t love eating outside. Now, imagine when there is food and you can’t cook and vice versa. I believe those are the things that contributed to the second frame and like I said the picture was taken when I was at 100 level and now I’m understanding the new environment I found myself now, it has been better than before.”
