Social media personality Blessing Okoro, popularly known as Blessing CEO, has admitted falsely claiming she had breast cancer to attract financial donations from members of the public.
She made the admission during an interview with social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, in a video shared on Thursday.
Blessing CEO said she resorted to the claim amid financial pressure arising from an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission-related dispute involving a man identified as Dr Onuoha Okeigwe.
She explained that although a medical examination had revealed a lump in her breast, the finding was not cancerous.
According to her, she deliberately presented the lump as cancerous to generate sympathy and attract donations.
“Honestly, I do not have cancer. The truth is, I had gone for a check-up a few months ago and they found a lump on my breast, but it was not cancerous.
“So I took advantage of that, came to the media, cried for help and said that the lump was cancerous. I played an emotional game. I wanted funds, but I didn’t come out directly to ask for funds,” she said.
She added that she initially suggested she might sell some of her personal belongings, including her car and house, before members of the public encouraged her to share her bank details for financial assistance.
Blessing CEO said donations began arriving from different individuals but stopped after VeryDarkMan publicly questioned her cancer claims and demanded evidence.
“When I saw the video, immediately he (VeryDarkMan) made that video, the donation stopped. The donation paused. So I’m like, what do I do? What do I do? That was where the whole orchestration and resolving and all that stuff came,” she said.
She also admitted that she was not proud of her actions.
The latest disclosure reverses her earlier claim in March that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and needed financial assistance for treatment.
In an April interview with content creator Egungun of Lagos, she acknowledged receiving N13m in donations but maintained that she owed nobody an apology.
The controversy deepened after the Delta State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association disowned a histology report circulated in connection with her diagnosis, saying the document was originally issued to another patient, Deborah Mbara.
The EFCC subsequently arraigned Blessing CEO on a six-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence, forgery and other alleged offences involving the N13m donations. She pleaded not guilty.
The commission alleged that she used a falsified medical report to solicit money from the public. The allegations are before the court and have yet to be determined.
She is also facing two separate EFCC cases involving alleged property fraud.
In one case, she was arraigned over an alleged N36m fraud linked to a property transaction and secured N10m bail in June.
In another case, she is accused of obtaining N69.15m in connection with a five-year lease of a property in Lekki, Lagos, which the commission alleged she falsely presented as her own.
The Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja granted her N20m bail in July.
During proceedings on October 26, prosecution witness Dr Onuoha Okeigwe told the court that Blessing CEO allegedly misrepresented herself as the property owner before collecting the money.
Okeigwe also maintained during cross-examination that he relied on her representations, including WhatsApp conversations and other documents, before making the payment.
He further disclosed that he had filed a separate civil suit to recover more than N100m allegedly spent renovating the property.
The criminal case was adjourned until January 12, 2027, for the prosecution to call additional witnesses.
Blessing CEO, who pleaded not guilty in the separate property-related cases, was released from custody in late October after spending months at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre.
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