This year may have just begun, but that has not stopped some Nigerian celebrities from trending for negative reasons.

In this write-up, we have the lists of celebrities who have begun the New Year with controversies.

Alex Ekubo and Fancy Acholonu

Alex Ekubo and his estranged fiancée, Fancy, were virtually all over the news last year. However, a new drama that ensued between them last December spilt into the New Year.

To the shock of many, Fancy last year, took to social media to announce that her relationship, engagement and proposed marriage with the Nollywood actor had been called off, adding that the decision was taken in her best interest.

However, as if she had repented, Fancy returned to social media in December to publicly apologize for calling off their wedding, saying that nothing made sense without Alex. According to her, the decision to call off the wedding was taken in a hurry, adding that she now understood better how to handle situations, while pleading for forgiveness. She claimed she missed him so much.

While many were happy that finally, the couple was on their way to working things out and getting married, especially as Alex acknowledged the apology, they got another shocker, a few hours after the year started.

On Monday Fancy came out with the claim that Alex made her ‘apologize publicly constantly’, adding that the Nollywood actor manipulated her for his ego. The climax of her confessions was when she made it known that Alex refused to have sex with her for five years.

Empress Njamah

Late last year, Nollywood diva, Empress Njamah announced her engagement to a man named George Wade, via a video on her Instagram page, saying, “I got engaged today, the 18th of August. Oh my God. I’m officially off the market.” Unbeknownst to the curvy actress, the man had other ideas.

What followed were threats and cheap attempts at blackmail which the actress made known to the public. She claimed the video was made under duress, as she was forced to do it by her fiancé, George Wade.

She also revealed that George Wade, came into her life when she was vulnerable as she had just lost her friend, Ada Ameh.

Wade made good his threats by releasing Empress’ nude videos. He created a WhatsApp group, where he added multiple people and began posting naked videos of Empress, which he took in her house including videos of her taking her bath.

All these didn’t move Empress however or so it seemed, as she reacted to the videos with some simple words.

“Nobody can bring me down, I’m alive, love you guys for all the love, support, and messages, I’m alive, I spoke to many ladies hiding in situations like this but I spoke out and I’m alive” Empress posted on Instagram.

Yomi Gold and Ameenah

Nollywood actor, Yomi Alore, popularly known as Yomi Gold, on Tuesday, announced his split from his wife, Ameenah. His announcement makes him the first celebrity to end his marriage in 2023. In a post shared via his Instagram page, Gold revealed that they decided to part ways because love has died in the relationship.

“I and Meenah decided to go our separate ways,” he began.

“Meenah is a good person. She doesn’t deserve a man like me. She will make a great and loving partner to a far better person than me. I am not perfect. I will work on myself and be a better person. This has to be published because we want everyone who knows about us to be aware of our decision. Time will be good again,” Gold said.

Yomi Gold was formerly married to Victoria Ige, with whom he shares two kids. However, their marriage crashed in 2019. The actor afterwards tied the knot with Ameenah in January 2022. They welcomed their first child in April of the same year.

Burna Boy

Burna Boy may be gradually developing a bad reputation, if he doesn’t curb many habits he was known with last year.

Grammy award winner, Burna Boy ushered in the new year with a concert he held in the heart of Lagos that has since set tongues wagging.

The Afro-fusion singer arrived late for the concert, but instead of apologizing for coming late, he blasted his fans.

Burna Boy arrived at the show that was slated for 7 pm at 3 am; 8 hours late, which caused his fans to lament and call him out for the disrespect. His fans bemoaned his lackadaisical attitude towards his performances in his home country, as against abroad where he arrives on time and performs satisfactorily. All these accusations from his fans didn’t go down well with the African giant, as he wasted no time in giving them a piece of his mind. After finally mounting the stage, Burna took the first few minutes to lambast his fans after they booed him for his lateness.

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Burna explained he wouldn’t have bothered to mount the stage after their rants, but for a junior colleague who knelt down to beg him to consider the fans who had waited over 8 hours for the paid-for show. To add insult to injury, Burna Boy was later seen in a video kicking off stage, a fan who tried climbing the stage.