15th June, 2015
Funsho Arogundade
On the night of Saturday, 13 June, 2015, Ogunrombi Olakunle Koya, also known as K-Peace, emerged winner of the Etisalat-sponsored Nigerian Idol Season 5.
At an exquisite grand finale show held inside the Dream Studio, Omole, Lagos, 32-year-old K-Peace beat arch-rival and co-finalist, Ogunmoyero Modoluwamu, with stage name Dolu, to cart home a brand new SUV, cash prize of N7.5 million and a mouth-watering international recording deal with Universal Music Company.
“I am overwhelmed getting to this stage today because I faced tougher and amazing talents, especially Dolu. I thank the sponsors of this competition for giving me the opportunity to pursue my dream,” an elated K-Peace said after beingn crowned the winner of the competition after voting results were collated by Alexander Forbes.
K-Peace and Dolu emerged the final two contestants in the music talent reality show after scaling different stages of auditions involving thousands of people that auditioned in Benin, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Lagos five months ago.
The contestants were reduced initially to 100 and finally 12 that battled week in, week out for the coveted prize until the last day.
During Saturday’s grand finale, K-Peace, renowned for his dexterity in fusing Fuji into many of the songs he performed throughout his stint at the competition, won the hearts of the judges and the studio audience including his (K-Peace’s) mother, wife and daughter, with his classy rendition of Kiss Daniel’s ‘Woju’ and later Sir Shina Peters’ chartbuster, ‘Ijo Shina’. Both performances earned him a standing ovation and accolades from all.
Equally-talented and vocal power house Dolu, a 25-year-old civil servant from Ondo State, as first runner-up received a cash prize of N1.5 million and a brand new saloon car, while the second runner-up Nex2 got N1 million.
Francesco Angelone, Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, said at the event that the company is living up to its reputation as a lifestyle brand that is passionate about the youth and it recognised Nigerian Idol as a veritable platform to identify, nurture and celebrate young talented Nigerians.
“Nigerian Idol is one of our platforms to celebrate the Nigerian youths. This season, all the contestants have been amazing in their individual right and K-Peace particularly has been outstanding from the audition stage and we are glad that the voting public has crowned a winner deserving of his crown,” Angelone said.
Rotimi Pedro, Chairman, Optima Media Group (OMG), franchise owner of Nigerian Idol, was equally excited at the emergence of K-Peace, who he believed has a bright future in the music industry.
“Our joy at Nigerian Idol is, the more we do this, the more talents we discover and the good thing is that the winner, K-Peace, has the ability to blend Fuji and ‘R&B’ and we believe that the young man will do very well in the music industry,” Pedro said.
K-Peace will be joining the growing list of exceptionally-talented young Nigerian artistes discovered via Etisalat-Sponsored Nigerian Idol.
The past winners since its debut in 2010 are Yeka Onka (2011), Mercy Chinwo (2012), Moses Adigwe (2013) and Evelle Zibilli (2014), all of whom have regularly graced numerous entertainment and musical events nationwide.
The grand finale was characterised by superlative performances and jaw-dropping moments from the top 12 finalists, Dance Na the Main Thing (DNMT), a choreography and dance group, and comedy by Acapella. The Season 5 judges, Dede Mabiaku, Yinka Davies and Darey Alade, also took turns to put up exceptional performances.
The show was rounded off by Nigerian international soul singer, Asa, who flew in from her base in France.
She did three songs from her current album, Beds of Stone: ‘Satan Be Gone’, ‘Eyo’ and ‘Moving On (Where Do People Go?)’.