…as winners emerge
A 200L student of the Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Ugbowo campus of the University of Benin, Adaora Joan Onumba, on Saturday emerged the winner of this year’s Miss UNIBEN Beauty Pageant with a cash prize of N1 million.
Also, Peace Osakwe, the 1st runner-up, was declared the Face of UNIBEN, while Ogbeide-Ihama Mary, the 2nd runner-up, bagged the Miss Exceptional title at the event held at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub in Benin City, Edo State capital. The 1st runner-up also won N200,000 cash prize while the 2nd runner-up got N100,000.
The Miss UNIBEN Beauty Pageant debuted in 2016 and has produced five queens since then with three winners from the Ugbowo campus and two from the mother campus, Ekehuan. Adaora Joan Onumba brings the number to six.
Organised by Metro Event, this year’s beauty pageant, themed “The Independent Woman”, began with a total of 28 contestants from both Ekehuan and Ugbowo campuses of the University of Benin. The list was then narrowed down to the Top 10 contestants through an online voting process. As the event progressed, the chances of Ekehuan campus retaining the crown waned as none of its queens made it to the Top 5. Ekehuan campus has held the crown in the last one year.
Famous Okungbowa of Metro Event, organisers of the show, told The Nigerian Observer that Miss UNIBEN is aimed at giving young females a platform to showcase beauty and a chance to be the next Miss UNIBEN.
“Miss UNIBEN is very special because it re-orientates people of what pageantry is all about, creating a free and fair veritable platform for beauty queens and not the other negative vices people tag pageantry for,” Okungbowa said.
The event was a colourful display of the art of beauty and fashion and had in attendance students majorly from the University of Benin, as well as parents, families, and well-wishers from around the city who came to watch and show support to their favourite contestants. It featured dance, music performance and comic relief.
A supporter of one the contestants, who identified himself as Jesse, said, “I am here to support my candidate (Adaora Joan Onumba). I believe in her. Her confidence and charisma are out of this world. She has put in all the necessary hard work and has big aspirations. She is really a people’s person.”
Also, a student and rap artiste, Jaiz Khalifa, expressed joy seeing young people having fun positively.
“I am very happy to be here. I am a student and also an artiste. I love what I am seeing here today. This is creativity at its peak. The fashion sense of young people is out of this world,” Khalifa said.
“Pretty ladies, handsome gentlemen. Honestly with all this beauty, God deserves more praise,” he said.
Also speaking to The Nigerian Observer on the relevance of the crown, the immediate past queen, Patricia Jimoh, a 300L student of the Department of Theatre Arts, Ekehuan campus, said, “The crown gave me recognition in different places. I got to experience new things and meet new people because of the title.”
