A new chapter was opened in the history of Silverbird Entertainment when a young Nigerian model, Brian Okpara, emerged the first ever Mr. Nigeria at the first male pageant put together by the Ben Murray-Bruce-led outfit on Saturday, February 3, 2006.

advertisement

Fair skinned, tall and intelligent, Brian captured the crown after defeating 13 other young men in a game that lasted more than four hours at the Silverbird Galleria.

"Well, I feel great. I feel great," were his words while speaking with Daily Independent shortly after he was declared winner. "I thank God that the people recognised the real thing. I have got all it takes to be the winner and thank God I made it," he said.

The panel of judges, which included respected fashion designer, Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, Bobby Eke of Bobby Hair, Kafayat Salau, winner of Guinness Book of Records Danceathon contest; Ogechi Adiukwu and Miss Abiola Bashorun, current Most Beautiful Girl In Nigeria; could not resist the crowd’s favourite as they rooted for Okpara to be conferred with the title of Mr. Nigeria.

The winner is expected to represent Nigeria at the international version of the contest, which comes up in China soon. He also went home with a cash prize of half a million naira and other juicy prizes that comes in form of leveraging and endorsement deals, which may come his way given his new status.

Others who also got recognition were Pelumi, contestant number 9 (first runner-up). He also won the Best Physique award. Seun (contestant 3) was second runner-up, Damilola (contestant 13) was third runner-up while Obi (contestant one) went home with the fourth runner-up prize. Most Charming Contestant Award was presented to Kazeem (Contestant 7) of the University of Lagos, while Seun (contestant 3) carted home the Most Talented Contestant Award.

The contestants went through different stages before the last five finalists were picked. For instance, there was the introduction stage, fashion segment when they all stepped on stage with corporate wears; body flexing, talent hunt and question time. After the five top contestants were chosen, they still went through the question and answer process to test their IQ. When asked to define a perfect man, contestant number 11, who emerged the eventual winner, said: "He is someone who is selfless. Someone who does less for himself to better someone else." The young man added that he was indeed a perfect man.

Of course, the crowd, which included Titi, his fiancÈe, went into frenzy as they praised him for giving the perfect man the right definition.

As usual with the Silverbird Group in almost all their events, the show started some hours behind schedule. Although the event was billed to take off at 6 p.m., the show did not start until 8:26 p.m. and did not end until about 30 minutes past midnight. However, the drawback they had in punctuality, they made up for by presenting a well-packaged male model contest.

The show kicked off when star actress, Bimbo Akintola, and her co-compere for the show invited award-winning dancer, Kafayat Salau popularly known as Kaffy, to thrill the audience with her dance steps. She came on stage with three male dancers and by the time they left the stage, the crowd knew they were in for a great time.

The crowd-pulling effect of the Kogi State-born comedian, Sheddi Baba, also added flavour to the already served appetizer by Kaffy and her crew. He excited the audience with hilarious jokes. Ice 4, a group of gorgeous ladies not in anyway different from the popular American all female musical group, Destiny Child, except in number (three ladies made up Destiny Child while they are four). They displayed their musical talents and great dance steps. Another crowd-pulling effect was their sexy appearance. Apart from their sultry shapes, they all appeared in colourful tops, tight-fitted jeans and sachoes boots.

Others that came on stage to spice up the event with exhilarating performance included popular comedians, Basket Mouth, AY, Omo Baba Number 1, Jeddi, Owen Gee and about three dance groups. However, Basket Mouth got plenty of love for making the best out of the little time he had on stage. He was very creative with his jokes. While some came to repeat the same jokes they had told at different shows, Basket Mouth gave the audience the best with his spontaneous humour and it got a lot of people reeling with so much laughter.

Seal, a young musician, who won the last music contest at the Rhythm Unplugged, also performed to the delight of the crowd. He, however, could not make the best of what he had in store because the CD he was using did not play well thereby distorting his performance.

One remarkable aspect of the event was like most shows that held in highbrow areas, where only those with the tongue of Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Lopez were allowed to perform. The crowd was treated to some real grassroots music. The audience was also entertained by the duo of Mad Melon and Mountain Black of Danfo Driver fame. They brought humour into their performance when they said: "Ben Bruce is also a danfo driver, suo". African China made sure it was not a night to forget for most of those who left their homes to witness the Mr. Nigeria contest.

Shortly after the winner emerged, there was a party at Da Grotto, a hangout also located in Victoria Island. All the contestants were there to appreciates those who came from far and near to see them display their talents.