Former beauty queen and initiator of Miss Nigeria’s Centenary Pageant, Ms. Nike Oshinowo, has begun a tour of corporate organisations and service industry with the winner of the beauty pageant, Miss Queen Ubah.
The new queen, who was led by Oshinowo, also the Creative director and CEO of AOE Events and Entertainment Company, organisers of the beauty pageant, was received last Friday by Arik Air’s Managing Director, Mr. Chris Ndulue, at the company’s corporate office, Ikeja, Lagos.
Oshinowo, who was accompanied by other top officials of the company, said the visit was in appreciation of its support towards the pageant.
According to her, “from the outset, I did know that AOE’s relationship with Arik Air is particularly special. And I must say that the relationship we have built is close to my heart. As a true partner to all my projects, the Centenary Pageant in Yenagoa was quite a feat and Arik Air once again rose to the occasion and has acquired for itself a queen for the next 100 years.
“We crowned a queen and her name is Queen Ubah. She is going to reign for 100 years. Long may you reign; I pray nothing happens to you, because if anything happens to you, Nigeria will have to bear the cost. This is going to be a life-time Catholic marriage because there is no divorce in this marriage between the Nigeria’s Centenary Queen and Arik Air.”
Against the backdrop of resentment occasioned by the late arrival of the beauty queen, Oshinowo said: “She is a brilliant queen and such a lovely young lady. Today is her first official outing, and she is learning about punctuality.
“She has promised me that she intends to wear that crown and title with dignity and honour, and more importantly with humility. It is her first courtesy call. She is a fast learner, ladies and gentlemen. She is our queen for the next 100 years: It is for us to teach, nurture, love and respect her. We should also try to accommodate her little shortcomings rather than put her through the usual things that Nigerian celebrities go through.”
While welcoming the Queen, Ndulue noted that “That is a long reign. I pray that God will preserve you through this period.”
The Arik Air boss promised that his company would continue to support the queen through the period of her reign, noting that pageantry is about role-modelling. “We will continue to do what we should do to ensure that our dreams for Nigeria are actualised. The essence of beauty pageants is to ensure that we continue to identify role models in the society and it is something that the company will need to encourage, as opposed to violence and other negative vices among youths,” he added.
Ubah, who expressed her gratitude to Arik for flying her and the other girls around during the period of the competition, said: “I can’t tell you enough how good my colleagues and I felt throughout the competition. At the same time, I am blessed to have you support me throughout my reign as queen. On my part, I will do my best to keep the partnership aglow.”
Oshinowo also described the 25-year-old beauty queen, a graduate of Geology from the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, as a “well-trained girl brought up in the Christian way, attended Caleb International School and only pierced her ear when she was 12 years old.”
She added: “This is a girl from a decent home, whose pastor called to congratulate her, saying he is proud of her. We need to let the young people know that you don’t have to be a ‘bad’ person to go into the beauty world or the fashion industry.”
When asked what will happen if the queen is unable to complete her reign on the grounds of marriage or any other cogent reason, Oshinowo said the first runner-up would automatically take over, as another pageant would be in the next 100 years.
“We need to move beyond that whole thing of whether the husband will not approve of her to continue as queen. This is because the man that will marry her will know that he is marrying the Nigerian Centenary Queen. She will remain Nigeria’s Centenary Queen until she dies or until Nigeria attains another centenary. So, whoever marries her, Nigeria adopts him because they are Nigeria’s children. When she dies, Nigeria buries her; when she graduates, Nigeria celebrates,” she said.
Although it is not clear how the Centenary Queen will operate or Nigeria’s obligation to her, Oshinowo explained that “she is on salary and Nigeria is going to pay her. The essential thing is that she belongs to us. She was crowned to celebrate the amalgamation of Nigeria. She is our symbol of unity. And that is what she remains throughout her life.”
Ubah emerged winner in the maiden edition of the Nigeria’s Centenary Pageant held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State in 2013.
She beat 36 girls, who represented the 36 states and the FCT.
The Mbaino, Imo State-born beauty queen said her mother, a member of the Deeper Life Christian Church, encouraged her to enter for the pageant.
Culled: www.thenationonlineng.net
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