Nollywood actor Jide Awobona has officially broken his silence following a wave of harsh criticism and intense public backlash over a deeply emotional video he shared regarding Nigeria’s escalating security crisis.
In a detailed post on his official Instagram page dated May 31, the actor defended his decision to take down the clip, explaining that he was in a highly vulnerable state and felt completely overwhelmed by the psychological weight of the country’s harsh realities.
Awobona stressed that his decision to delete the post was influenced by how deeply the issue of insecurity had affected him emotionally, calling the move an act of self-preservation to protect his mental well-being.
Before the video was pulled down, it had already generated massive engagement, gathering over a million reactions across his various social media platforms.
Awobona disclosed that the responses ranged from shared frustration to extreme, toxic comments where users openly wished misfortune and harm upon celebrities and public figures. The actor said many of the reactions he received were unfair, noting that people frequently fail to understand the immense personal struggles and silent battles that public figures deal with behind the scenes.
“Behind many smiles are pains you may never see. That is why we must be careful not to judge a book by its cover,” he wrote.
Despite the backlash, Awobona maintained that he understands much of the collective anger stems from genuine heartbreak and widespread emotional distress within the country.
However, he emphasized that his vulnerability should not be mistaken for weakness or insincerity, nor was this a superficial, one-off reaction to jump on a trending topic. The actor reminded his followers of his long-standing track record of advocacy, recalling previous posts where he used his platform to speak out against injustice, including his vocal condemnation of the tragic abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oyo State.
Furthermore, Awobona revealed that his deep empathy for victims of crime is rooted in firsthand experience, sharing that he was once personally robbed. He noted that this traumatic experience permanently altered his worldview, making the current wave of national crime hit close to home. According to him, these personal scars have shaped his reactions and made him far more sensitive to the pain, anger, and frustration many citizens currently feel.
Expressing deep concern over how quickly social media users turn on one another during times of national grief, Awobona appealed for immediate calm across digital spaces and urged Nigerians not to weaponize their frustration against fellow citizens. He argued that periods of crisis are not the time to police how individuals choose to process their trauma.
“This is not the time to attack fellow Nigerians. This is not the time to tell others how they should react to tragedy, loss, fear, or frustration,” he said.
AThe actor further noted that the public often holds an unfair double standard, expecting celebrities to completely pause their normal lives or stop functioning whenever national issues arise.
He stressed that public figures are also human beings who experience fear, grief, and emotional strain. Reflecting on broader national tragedies, Awobona confessed that long-standing historical events, such as the Chibok girls’ kidnapping, still deeply affect and haunt him. He concluded by revealing that he constantly throws himself into his acting work and searches for daily distractions simply as a coping mechanism to guard his mental health and survive the ambient anxiety of the times.
