23rd December, 2011
When Monica Ogah emerged one of the 17 final contestants that made it to the MTN Project Fame West Africa (Season 4), no one would have predicted that she would eventually become the winner, having survived the auditions from Benue State. But immediately the competition started, her exceptional vocal delivery and artistic prowess made her a force to reckon with.
Monica did not just win the star prize; N2.5 million, a brand new Toyota RAV4 SUV and recording contract worth millions of naira, she also set a new record in the highly competitive music talent show.
In the history of the competition so far, Monica was the only contestant that was not placed on probation at all.
At a point in the competition when she performed Tuface’s Only Me, it was quite impressive that one of the judges, Kwame, in his comment, promised to liaise with the management of the artiste on the possibilities of recording a remix of the song with Monica.
However, on the final day of the competition, which was produced by Ultima Limited, expectedly paraded an array of stars. The creme de la creme of the society were well represented. Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, veteran actor Olu Jacobs, St. Obi and many other prominent personalities were present to celebrate with the winner.
The other 11 contestants that started with the competition with the final six were also present on the Project Fame stage to give their support to the finalists, who were ready to repeat one of their best performances on their own compositions.
Wizkid kicked off the show with some of his hits. Ruth also took off and did Saving All My Love For You by Whitney Houston. Roy performed Dirty Diana by Michael Jackson; Ethel sang Toni Braxton’s How Could An Angel Break My Heart; Ese performed If This Isn’t Love by Jennifer Hudson; Yvonne again did Rihanna’s version of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song and Monica blew everyone away again with Tuface’s Only Me’
Chidinma, the Season 3 winner of the competition, performed her new song, Kedike, having launched her 10 tracks debut album entitled Chidinma, recently.
To cap the show with a thoroughly entertaining performance of hits was the international group, Dru Hill, who rocked the world in recent years. The group got everyone waving and on their feet dancing and cheering.
Finally, with the tension rising to a fever pitch, envelopes containing the names of those with the highest votes were handed over to one of the hosts, Joseph Benjamin and with knife-edge suspense, Joseph slowly revealed the winners from the third runner up to the winner. Monica emerged winner and went home with the grand prize of N2.5 million, a Toyota RAV4 SUV and recording contract worth several millions of naira.
While Roy, the last man standing came out as the first runner up winning N1.5 million and a Toyota Corolla car, Ese got a reward of N1 million and a Toyota Yaris car for coming out as the second runner up. And finally, Ghana’s Ethel was the third runner up. She smiled home with N1 million.
—Bayo Adetu