1st February, 2013
By Daniels Ekugo
It was a day of mixed feelings and surprises, as the first six contestants to make it into the Top 12 of the third season of the Etisalat-sponsored Nigerian Idol show were chosen by the viewers. The lucky six: Sadeeat, Vicci, Debbie Rise, Oreoluwa Liyele, Kome Amagada and Job Emmanuel Idoko were among the first 20 of the Top 30 contestants, who slugged it out over the past two weeks.
Surprisingly, presumed favourite, Obinna Michael, did not make it through. Also the duo of Moses Obi-Adigwe and Okafor Angus Sunday also lost out in the voting, leaving the audience at the Dream Studio venue very disappointed.
The trio now hope to return through the wild card segment, a prerogative of the judges and the audience to bring back to the show some of the evicted contestants. But that may be a long shot, as they will not be the only ones with such hope. They will have 20 others to contend with.
Two of the judges, Yinka Davies and Jeffery Daniels were as shocked as the audience with the voting results that has seen some of the contestants they see as promising talents being voted out. They advised the audience to vote more to keep their favourite contestants on the show.
Head of Events and Sponsorship, Etisalat Nigeria, Modupe Thani, spoke in the same vein. She said it is disappointing to see such promising talents leave the competition when the show is about to peak. She encouraged the audience and viewers at home to vote for their favourite contestants as many times as possible so that they can have more votes to make them stay in the competition.