Defying the early morning showers of
Monday, June 20, 2016 as well as the gridlock that gripped Third Mainland
Bridge and Ikorodu Road for hours on that day, some of Nigeria’s best and
brightest still converged to celebrate with YES
INTERNATIONAL! Magazine at 5.
The high profile event which held at
the Nigerian Institute of International
Affairs (NIIA), on KofoAbayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, in fact, was
packed-full – and with quality guests.
Dubbed the 5th AnnualYES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine Lecture/Cocktail Party, heavyweights
like Dr. (Mrs.) Nike Akande, CON, former Minister of Industry and President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
Dr. Gabriel Ogbechie, MD/CEO, Rainoil Ltd;
Barrister TaiwoAdeoluwa, Secretary to the Ogun State Government; Mr.
EmekaOparah, Vice President, Corporate Communications,Airtel Nigeria; Prince BisiOlatilo, Chairman, Biscon Communications; Bishop Isaac Idahosa, General Overseer, Illumination Assembly; Hon.
TundeBraimoh, Chairman, House Committee on Media, Lagos State House of
Assembly; Mr. HabibAruna, Chief Press Secretary to Lagos State Governor, Mr.
AkinwunmiAmbode;Mr. TokunboModupe, Chairman, TPT International; Chief Tony Okoroji, Chairman, Cosonand Dr. Larry Izamoje, Chairman, Brila FM,were all there.
Representing the showbiz sector were
ace comedian, BasorgeTariah, Jnr. (who was the compere) andHarrysong, who also
entertained. Then, the Ejiro brothers, Chico and Zeb, Tunde and WunmiObe, Ken
CalebsOlumese, Ali Baba, Fred Amata,Teco Benson, Obi Osotule, Jennifer Eliogu,
Grace Ama, Raw Nwanne, Prince Ifeanyi Dike, UcheIwuji, Matthias Obahiagbon,
YemiBlaq, AkeemRahman, Femi Lasode, D’Lectura, De Don, Mike Nliam, KoffiNuel,
Zik Zulu Okafor,TunjiBamishigbin, ArinzeOkonkwo, Linchung and Tony Akposheri.
Others were Mrs. ChizorMalize of Brandzone,
Dr. (Mrs.) Quincy Ayodele of Quincy
Herbals, Deaconess (Mrs.) BolanleOginni of Blessed Water, Alhaja Tai Elemesho-Okesanjo of Montai, Mr. Charles Aigbe of UBA,
Mr. Toni Kan of nTEL, Mr. Abdul
Imoyo of Access Bank, Mr. Michael
Effiong of Ovation Magazine, Prince
DayoAsaju of First Weekly, Mr.
LoyeAmzat of News of the People, Mr.
Chris KehindeNwandu of CKN News, Hon.
UzamaOkpalaeke, IkengaAzia, Mr. Ingram Osigwe, MD, Full Page Communications, Mr. AzuhAmatus of Daylight.ng, among many others.
Kicking off at exactly 12.05pm (due to
the rain), the opening prayer was said by Bishop Idahosa, followed by the
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of YES
INTERNATIONAL! Magazine, Sir AzuhArinze’s welcome address. Then, the
chairperson, Mrs. Nike Akande’s opening remarks.
The unveiling of YES CLASSICS!,heraldedby a scintillating performance by rapper
DozieMbata,was next. And then the reason for the gathering – Dr. Ogbechie’s
lecture on ‘Running A Successful Business
In Nigeria – My Experience’.
Brilliantly and eloquently delivered by
the billionaire mogul behind Rainoil Ltd,
veteran journalist and godfather of entertainment journalism, Mr. Femi
Akintunde-Johnson (FAJ), described it as a ‘Master’s Class’ while
multi-talented entertainer, Mrs. WunmiTunde-Obe, who has witnessed all the five
editions of the annual lecture summed it up as the‘most interesting one yet!’
Richly endowed with the gift of the
garb, Ogbechie, an Engineering graduate of the University of Benin, recounted a riveting story of how he
transformed a company set up only years ago with just N300,000 into a multi-billion
empire.
As the standing ovation that trailed
his superb presentation was dying down, Ogun SSG, Barrister TaiwoAdeoluwa, AirtelVP, Mr. EmekaOparah and President,
DirectorsGuild of Nigeriacum renowned
actor, Mr. Fred Amata, quickly mounted the rostrum to give their short remarks.
Rave crooner, Harrysong, took over from
there, doling out hit track after hit track. But beginning with the monstrously
popular Reggae Blues. And instantly, the hall rose to dance with him and also
sing along.
Actress and singer, Jennifer Eliogu,
wrapped up the event which also witnessed the cutting of the anniversary cake,
massive networking, cocktail and so on.
Commenting on the 5th Annual Lecture/Cocktail Party of YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine, the
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of the celebrity journal which prides itself as being
more than just a softsell, Sir AzuhArinze, stated that all the glory must go to
God. ‘Because without Him, we can do nothing. For 5 years now, He has stood
solidly behind us and notwithstanding today’s early morning rain, the hall was
still full and we even had an overflow. All our key guests equally turned up.
‘The greatest thing, however, is that
the whole thing went well. We thank all those that attended and even those that
could not make it due to one reason or the other. Our prayer is that next year
will be better and bigger’.
Tags
Entertainment