Abia State Broadcasting Service (ABS)
director, Mr Uche Nworah has reacted to Miss Chidinma Okeke's
allegations that she was pressured into making the now infamous record
by organisers of the pageant. Miss Okeke had, in an interview with
Nation alleged that the organisers were behind the blackmail video.
In his statement, he says Miss Okeke is
lying, everything that happened during her reign were all contractually
stipulated, and she may have fallen victim to con men who tricked her
into believing that she would win if she made a record. He also added
she is a pawn in a 'larger politically motivated conspiracy.'
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There is an Igbo saying that the more you repeat a lie, at some point people may begin to believe that it is the truth.
There is an Igbo saying that the more you repeat a lie, at some point people may begin to believe that it is the truth.
On this former Miss Anambra sex scandal,
the management of the Anambra Broadcasting Service had previously
released a press statement disassociating the organisation from it. We
still stand on that statement.
We have also made statements on the
matter to the law enforcement authorities. We understand that Miss
Chidinma Okeke has also made statements to the law enforcement
authorities so we eagerly await their findings.
It is however important that I correct
certain statements that are being made on this forum and in other fora
especially concerning the interview Miss Chidinma Okeke granted the
Nation newspaper today. There appears to be an agenda to push falsehood
to the public and in so doing malign me and the Anambra Broadcasting
Service over a matter that we know nothing about. It appears that our
silence over the matter, except the press statement we issued earlier is
now being exploited by those who are bent on using the Miss Anambra sex
scandal to settle political scores in Anambra state.
It would also appear that Miss Chidinma Okeke has become a pawn in a larger politically motivated conspiracy.
The ABS as a socially responsible
organisation fulfilled to the letter every part of the contract signed
with Miss Chidinma Okeke, former Miss Anambra. This includes paying ALL
her prize money of the sum of one million Naira only. This was paid in
instalments in line with the contract. An initial sum of N500,000 was
paid to her after she signed her contract and the balance of N500,000
was paid in N50,000 instalments over a 10 month period.
She collected her last instalment of
N50,000 on the 11th of October 2016, the day she handed over the crown
to the organisers. We have records of her signing for all the payments.
We had to take the measure of inviting the former Miss Anambra to the
office on this date as that was the day an anonymous individual had
forwarded the videos to myself and some other persons I do not know
accusing the former queen of being a lesbian. The person said he was in
possession of such similar videos numbering over 10 allegedly showing
the former queen in lesbian acts, as well as her friends in the lesbian
video performing sexual acts with men. Details of these WhatsApp
messages have been made available to the law enforcement authorities. We
took this decision as we did not want the brand to be smeared with such
a scandal as contained in Clause 1 of the contract.
After the handover of the crown by Miss
Chidinma Okeke to the Miss Anambra project executives in the presence of
the ABS management in the office of the ABS MD/CEO, I dismissed all the
other members of the management with the exception of the ABS lawyer
and one of the Miss Anambra project executives. I went on to show Miss
Chidinma Okeke the videos I had received that day from the anonymous
individual and the messages from the person, I then asked her if she had
any knowledge of the video and she said yes. I advised her to go home
and confide in her family. I have not seen nor spoken to her since that
day as I do not know her whereabouts.
Miss Chidinma Okeke was not forced to
sign the contract under duress as alleged, rather a certain Nwakonobi
Ifeanyi who is married to her sister and acting as her guardian
co-signed with her after they had taken the contract home, studied and
consulted over it.
As a respectable pageant, we have
certain rules and regulations guiding participation in the pageant and
conduct of the queen during her reign.
The Miss Anambra Beauty Pageant platform
is indeed a wonderful one. There is nothing wrong with the pageant. We
have had winners and participants on the platform who have gone on to do
big things in their lives and modelling careers. The pageant is solely
private sector funded. The state government does not sponsor the pageant
so please do not believe the false story that the Anambra state
government spends millions of Naira sponsoring the pageant.
If you live in Awka or Anambra state,
you will confirm that it is usually a big event which generates a lot of
excitement and buzz. As an organisation, the pageant generates
entertainment content and some revenue for the ABS.
From the audition to the final event
itself, the contestants are treated with the highest respect, courtesy
and dignity. They sign a document detailing dos and donts and pledge to
be of good conduct and behaviour both during camp and during the reign
of the eventual winner. In the past, the organisers have had to dismiss
some finalists from camp for misconduct, one for giving her number out
to a hotel guest where they are camped and another for being rude to
fellow contestants and the chaperon.
The pageant is judged to the highest
standard. The judges are usually former acclaimed national beauty queens
and showbiz personalities. The pageant overall is managed by a Pageant
Creative Director who is a former Miss Nigeria. We take every care to
ensure that we deliver a good show every year.
There are no preconditions of appearing
in a record to contest in the Miss Anambra pageant. We have had hundreds
of contestants on the pageant and they can testify to that. It makes no
sense to try to blame the organisers over an act that is as a result of
one's folly and greed. If perhaps the said Miss Chidinma Okeke fell
victim to conmen who tricked her into believing that she will win a
beauty pageant if she appears in a record, if she goes ahead and
participates in the said video and the conmen turn around to blackmail
her and extort money from her with the record, how can I or the ABS be
blamed for that? Did the other participants and contestants on the show
suffer the same fate?
Regarding the issue of the Miss Anambra
vehicle, in line with clause 10 of the contract, the vehicle is an
official car which the organisers reserve the right to withdraw at the
end of the queen's reign. It does appear that the issue of the car is
what concerns the former queen the most as statements to the media by
her father, and even text messages to me and discussions from people
from her camp suggest so but clearly as can be seen from the contract,
the ABS acted as per contract signed.
It is obvious that those who have been
at the forefront pushing this falsehood and allegation that I, Uche
Nworah or the ABS has anything to do with this have ulterior motives.
In this day and age of social media, it
is now easy for anybody to manufacture falsehood and post on social
media for the unsuspecting public to read, like and share but in the end
truth triumphs.
Please there's nothing like Abia Broadcasting Service. Correct yourself poster. It is Anambra Broadcasting Service.
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