The intimate drama of a popular Nigerian content creator unfolded in real time before thousands of livestream viewers when Hebeeb Hamzat, widely known by his TikTok moniker Peller, made an impassioned public appeal to his ex-girlfriend Jarvis during a recent online broadcast, inviting her as a guest and requesting a second chance at their relationship. The moment, captured and disseminated across multiple social media platforms, has ignited widespread commentary on relationship reconciliation, performative intimacy in the digital age, and the increasingly blurred line between personal matters and public entertainment.
In the livestream, which subsequently circulated virally across TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms, Peller articulated what appeared to be a carefully constructed case for rekindling their romantic relationship. His statements painted a picture of personal transformation and maturity, a narrative he deployed strategically to counter what may have been previous criticisms or reasons for their separation.
“If you date me back, we’ll never break up again, we’ll be together forever, and we won’t do an online relationship again,” Peller declared during the broadcast. “We’ll travel, and nobody will know. I’m more mature now. I now eat and give leftovers to the kids to eat. When my dad eats, he would give us the leftovers to eat, that’s what they call maturity,” he continued, using a personal anecdote from his household background to illustrate what he characterised as a shift in his values and comportment.
The statement, which blended vulnerability with what many observers interpreted as attempts at humour, was designed to resonate with Jarvis and, equally, with the livestream audience witnessing the exchange in real time. The invocation of filial duty and the sharing of resources functioned as a proxy for demonstrating personal growth—the implication being that a willingness to redistribute material resources and subordinate individual consumption to collective family welfare represented a marker of emotional and psychological development.
Jarvis, however, demonstrated a markedly different posture. Rather than reciprocating the emotional tenor of his appeal or engaging with his narrative of transformation, she responded with a phrase that has itself become subject to scrutiny and interpretation across the digital landscape: “Show workings, no be chochocho.”
The statement, rooted in Nigerian English vernacular, communicated a form of scepticism and demand for empirical validation. “Show workings”—a phrase originating from mathematics instruction, where students are asked to demonstrate the methodology behind their answers functioned as a metaphorical demand that Peller substantiate his claims through observable action rather than rhetorical assertion. “No be chochocho,” a colloquial expression signifying empty talk or hollow promises, reinforced her position: she would not be persuaded by verbal declarations alone.
In this exchange, Jarvis positioned herself as the rational actor, unmoved by emotional appeal, insisting on material evidence of change. Her response, sharp and dismissive, suggested either a prior history of unfulfilled promises or a fundamental scepticism about the possibility of genuine transformation communicated through a livestream setting. The brevity and force of her statement also carried an implicit critique of the performative nature of their interaction—the idea that genuine reconciliation cannot be negotiated or proven in a public broadcast environment.
The livestream has since proliferated across social media ecosystems. The clip, in various edited and reposted formats, has accumulated tens of thousands of engagements, with users responding variously with expressions of solidarity, mockery, analysis, and commentary on relationship dynamics more broadly.
The moment has become a point of cultural reference within Nigerian social media communities, with Jarvis’s response—her demand to “show workings” resonating particularly strongly with audiences who view it as a decisive assertion of boundaries and refusal to accept performative gestures in place of substantive change.
