A Nigerian-born lecturer Uju Anya sparked global outrage after she took to her verified Twitter handle to mock late Queen Elizabeth II‘s health condition hours before her death.
In a series of now-deleted tweets, the Professor fired several damning shots at the British empire and the influential role played by the late Queen of Elizabeth II, hoping that her death would be painfully “excruciating.”
Uju accused Queen Elizabeth II of sponsoring the “genocide” that led to her family being displaced.
In another tweet, she referenced the alleged role of the British empire in supplying the Nigerian government with arms and ammunition during the nation’s civil war which spanned 1967 – 1970.
Her post attracted a flurry of reactions including criticisms and backlash.
Below are five things to know about Professor Uju Anya;
1, Dr, Uju Anya is a university professor at the Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Modern Languages who currently teaches and researches in applied linguistics, critical sociolinguistics, and critical discourse studies primarily examining race, gender, sexual, and social class identities in new language learning through the experiences of African American students.
2, Before working at Carnegie Mellon University, Anya served in other prestigious institutions like Penn State University, University of Southern California and Dartmouth College.
3, She graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Roman languages. Uju Anya earned her Masters degree in Brazilian studies from Brown University and did her Ph.D in applied linguistics from UCLA.
4, In 2021, the Nigerian Professor who had legally separated from her husband in 2017, announced on Twitter that she had just finalised her divorce with her husband, thus openly revealing that she is lesbian. In a statement released on Twitter, the Professor wrote that her ex-husband knew of her sexuality before they got married, but she only thought at the time she was bisexual.
5, She is from both Nigerian/Trinidadian origin. Her parents met at the University in England. They got married and moved to Enugu Nigeria. However, after her father took in another wife, her mother took her young children and fled to America.
Credit: THE NATION.