Mr Nigeria 2018, Nelson Enwerem, says youths should beware of the type of friends they keep to avert unfortunate incidents.
Enwerem spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos against the backdrop of a trending incident of the death of a 17-year-old undergraduate, Emmanuel Balogun.
The late student of the University of Abuja was said to have got drowned in a swimming pool during an outing, while his friends watched rather than call for help.
It was reported that the friends escaped but were later apprehended by security agents through surveillance from a CCTV footage.
Enwerem said: “As I read the story, I must say that it is very disheartening; my heart goes out to the family of the deceased young man.
“I pray that God will grant the family, strength to get through this heartless loss.’’
Mr Nigeria 2018 called on every young person, male or female, to learn a lesson from the unfortunate incident.
“This is a serious lesson for young boys and girls to beware of the type of friends they keep and people they let into their circle.
“It is not everyone who dines with you that is happy about your success; they may be secretly plotting your downfall.
“We must be conscious of the world we live in today, which is a very dangerous place, all we can do is to do our best and leave the rest to God,” he told NAN.
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He described the incident as a betrayal because the late boy took his supposed friends out for relaxation, paid all the bills without knowing they had hatred for him.
“This is teaching us to keep our successes enclosed, it is not everything about our families that we should tell to our friends because the face is deceptive,” he said.
NAN reports that Mr Nigeria is scheduled to represent Nigeria at the tenth edition of the Mr World Pageant 2019, on August 23, in Manila, Philippines.
The current Mr World, 2016, from India, Rohit Khandelwal, is expected to crown whoever emerges as the new successor.
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